Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1
by JokerCarnage5
Summary: Grossology S3E8. Ty & Abby are transported into an alternate universe where everyone is the opposite of what they're used to. In this world, the Grossologists are evil overlords while Lance Boil and the other villains are heroic freedom fighters. The Archer siblings must join forces with these freedom fighters in order to defeat their evil counterparts and return home.
1. Prologue

**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**

* * *

**Prologue:**

It was a starry and quiet night in Ringworm City. The only thing cutting thru the silence and the starlight was the wheezing sound of jet engines and the wings of the GRS-2.

"I can't believe this." Ty lamented as he piloted the vehicle. "The one time the bad guys team-up and all three of the recruits were unavailable."

Abby sat in the seat next to him. She was getting a bit tiered of her brother's whining. "I thought they all had acceptable excuses. Chester's grandma broke her hip yesterday so he has to take care of her and Andy is staying with his dad this week. We could have asked Naomi but you insisted she'd get her beauty sleep for her upcoming ballet performance."

An embarrassed smile grew across Ty's face. "Yeah, I guess I got to blame myself on that one. Damn my chivalry."

Knowing he'd probably stop complaining now, Abby smiled as well. "I actually think it will get kind of fun doing a mission just the two of us. It will be just like the good old days. Besides, with those three there's just so much shipping."

"You mean cause we have to send for a lot of extra equipment?"

"Exactly."

Ty huffed in an amused manner. "At the very least this mission won't come with any surprises. I mean, it isn't like we haven't dealt with this terrible trio before."

* * *

"At last, my _Photon Receiver_ is complete and with it, the demise of the bureau of Grossology is finally within our reach!" Lance Boils maniacal laughter echoed thru out the abandoned manufacturing plant on the outskirts of the city.

His two companions, Insectiva and Sloppy Joe soon joined in on his laughing fit.

"Uh, wait a minute." Sloppy Joe interrupted them. He placed a finger against his lower lip as he contemplated. "What was our plan again?"

Insectiva groaned and slapped herself in the face while Lance Boil sighed tiresomely and hung his shoulders. "Joe, we've been over this a thousand times already. Do I really have to explain all this to you again?"

Sloppy Joe nodded.

Lance Boil sighed again. "Fine. This is the Photon Receiver." He tapped the device he was holding. The Photon Receiver was an elliptical glass container with multi-coloured wires inside of it. "Once I've connected it to my inter-dimensional portal, _The Wormhole_ it will operate on the uncertainty principle in order to connect atoms at two different points, opening a hole in the fabric of time and space, allowing us to make a surgical strike at our opponents' sanctum."

After hearing Lance Boil's plan, Sloppy Joe blinked puzzled before turning to his girlfriend.

"Boil's machine will open up a portal to the Grossologists' hideout so we can ambush them." Insectiva explained.

The aforementioned gateway was an electro-mechanical ring, standing atop a platform with a lot of machinery built into it.

"Oh, now I get it." Sloppy Joe nodded. "Wait." He looked perplexed for a moment before nodding again. "No, I get it. Thank you for explaining it to me."

"Yeah, thank you for revealing your evil plan to us." Abby's voice echoed thru the room, causing the three criminals to stiffen.

"Yeah, usually we have to get captured before that happens." Now Ty's voice chimed in.

The trio turned around and saw the two Grossologists standing up high in a window frame. "Grossologists!" Lance Boil hollered, shacking his fist in anger. "How did you find us?"

Abby smiled lopsidedly and raised an eyebrow. "Um, you're a jolly green giant, a quadrupedal lady and a midget with a pimple for a head. You're not exactly inconspicuous."

"This is bad. I haven't finished adjusting The Wormhole's settings yet." Lance Boil proclaimed.

"Its fine, Boil. Me and Joe are villainous enough for three people. We hold them off while you finish up on your do-hickey." Insectiva stated.

Ty smiled wily. "I take creepy."

"I take smelly." Abby retorted.

Sloppy Joe roared as he rushed forward. He slammed his fists into the wall the Grossologists were standing on with enough force to crack the stone. Ty and Abby struggled to keep their balance thru the tremors, legs shacking and fingers gripping the window frame. Ty then activated his jetpack and flew off while Abby jumped off the wall.

The female Grossologists did a flip in mid-air and summersaulted against Sloppy Joe's back, landing gracefully on the floor.

"Oof." Sloppy Joe groaned. He turned to face his opponent, growling with his yellow teeth bared.

Abby twitched her hand, giving him the old _come-at-me_ sign. Sloppy Joe scowled before inserting his pinkie into his ear. Abby blinked puzzled. Sloppy Joe then pulled out a long, tenuous stream of earwax and lounged it at Abby.

Abby tried to dodge it but she was a second too slow and became drenched in brown, greasy wax. She got up on her hands and knees, coughing up some that had gotten in her mouth. "No wonder Joe couldn't understand anything with all this wax in his ears."

Abby then felt a pair of large hands gripping her body and lifting her off the floor till she was face to face with Sloppy Joe. "Thought you could get one over on old Sloppy, eh?" The simpleton chuckled. "Now I'll break you."

Abby wriggled in the green man's grip but to no avail. However, one of her arms slipped free. Seeing the ear wax on her arm gave the clever girl an idea. "Please mister, don't squeeze me too hard. I'm very delicate." Abby childishly pleaded.

"So you don't want to be squeezed, eh?" Sloppy Joe mused before starting to squeeze her tightly. However, the ear wax had made Abby's slimesuit slippery and like a bar of soup being held too tightly, she plopped out of his grip.

"Hu?" Sloppy Joe looked up and saw his opponent in mid-air. On her way down Abby made sure her foot collided sharply with Joe's skull, knocking out one of his teeth. The green giant collided with the floor and past out.

Meanwhile in the air above, Ty was trying to get away from a swarm of bugs that was perusing him. They swarmed all over his body and from times he could feel a nip. "What even are these things?" He felt a sting on his left cheek and slapped it. He then examined his hand, eyeing the smeared remains of the bug he just smashed. "Horseflies? But they don't fly in swarms."

Insectiva was gleefully watching on from down below. "Good boys and girls swarm when their mother tells them to swarm." She cackled.

Ty huffed pompously. "Trying to take down the son of an entomologist with bugs, eh? Bad idea." He pulled out a green spray can from his belt pocket. Ty then barrel rolled thru the air as the canister released a green gas all around him. The horseflies dropped dead to the floor where Ty then landed.

Insectiva gasped at the sight of her dead children.

"Don't worry, the bureau of Grossology reassures that all our products is environmentally friendly, even bugspray." Ty said with a grin.

"Bugs are nature, you murderer!" Insectiva hollered and leaped at her _children's_ killer. Ty took one step back, avoiding her claw-like fingers before spraying her in the face with the bug spray. Insectiva shrieked with tears permeating thru her reddened eyes.

Ty then grabbed her by the wrists and spun her around before launching her at the wall. "Thanks for the dance lessons, Naomi." He mused as he armed his goopshooter and fired a large slimy projectile at mad entomologist, pasting her to the wall.

Insectiva wriggled and bended, trying to get loose but the goo had already crystalized. "Like a fly stuck on flypaper. Poppy." She sighed in defeat and hung her head.

Abby ran up to her brother. Ty eyed her for injuries. "You alright, sis?"

"A bit squashed but nothing broken."

"Good. Now, let's pop the pimple." Ty exclaimed and they started advancing on Lance Boil and the vortex machine.

Seeing his enemies approaching, Lance Boil grew a puppy dog face before turning into a pink flash as he rushed over at the machine's control board and started typing as fast as his little fingers could before punching a large red button.

Light atop the gateway started to blink and shine. The ring then filled in with white and green energy which started spinning like water trapped in a whirlpool.

Lance then grinned at the Grossologists. "Toodeloo, Grossologists. Where ever I go, you can't follow."

At that moment, Lance was startled by the sound of a minor explosion going off by the side of The Wormhole. Sparks started spitting from the ring and the vortex energy started spinning at an even faster rate.

Lance Boil and the Grossologists stared in horror at what seem to have become a doomsday device. "Oh no. I forgot to activate the cooling system. The Wormhole is having a meltdown!"

Tremors started spreading out thru the facility. These tremors awakened the unconscious Sloppy Joe. "Huh? Did I fall asleep inside a trash compactor again?"

"Joe, get me off this darn wall!" Insectiva yelled at him. Sloppy Joe walked up to his affixed girlfriend, took a strong hold of the crystalized goo that was entrapping her and ripped her off the wall, along with a good chunk of the wall she was attached to, leaving her still unable to move. "Good, not let's get out of here."

Sloppy Joe stuck Insectiva under his arm like she was a package from the post office and started running out of the room. "We're not saving Lance, right?"

"Of course not. It was a mistake to team-up with him again! You would think we learned our lesson the first time." Insectiva replied before the two disappeared from sight.

The vortex started spinning even faster now. A stack of papers on the control board suddenly took flight and was sucked into the portal. Followed by pens, a stapler and a coffee-mug with the text _#1 Villain_ on it.

"Oh, no. The gravitational difference between regular space and non-space has started to counterbalance each other." Lance Boil exclaimed.

"You're not making any sense." Ty stated.

"You little runt! I'm trying to say that the vortex has turned into a black hole that will devour us all!"

There was another laud tremor and the three humans were lifted off the ground by the gravitational pull and started to get sucked towards the portal.

Abby managed to grab onto a construction beam and Ty managed to grab onto his sister's ankle. Lance Boil fished his trusty Lugi-Lasso out of his robe and thrusted it. The slimy whip stuck to a wall, anchoring the pink-skinned criminal as he flailed in the air.

"Lance!" Abby called out. "How do we stop this?"

"We have to unplug the Photon Receiver from the reactor." Lance Boil replied.

"Photon Receiver?" Ty repeated, puzzled. "What is that?"

"It's by the portal!" Lance Boil shouted over the turbulent winds.

Ty looked over his shoulder and noticed a short pole in front of The Wormhole's ring with an odd elliptical glass-container built into a socket.

"Do you mean the sci-fi looking lamp next to the big swirly thing?" Ty asked.

"Yes!"

Ty thought for a moment before getting an idea. He locked his left arm around Abby's legs before arming his right with the Gross-Pincher. He aimed it at the Photon Receiver and ejected the claw, hoping it would work like a grappling hook.

Sadly, it didn't reach.

"Abby, the cable for my Gross-Pincher isn't long enough! What do we do now?" Ty cried out.

"Ty, I'm losing my grip." It was true, Abby was holding onto the beam with her bare fingers and the gravitational pull and Ty's extra weight was tiring them out. First, her pinkies lost their hold, then her thumbs and ring fingers. Only four fingers were preventing them from falling into oblivion. "Ty, use your jet-pack to get out of here!" She ordered, desperate for a way to get her brother to safety.

"My jet-pack can't even fly upwind in stormy weather, no way can it jettison me away from this." Ty replied. "Besides I ain't leaving you!"

To Abby's shame and dread, her remaining fingers gave out and the two siblings were sucked in towards the vortex, their bodies tumbling like leaves in the wind. Just as they crossed the threshold, Ty managed to grab onto the bottom of The Wormhole's ring with both hand and Gross-Pincher.

Abby managed to get a hold of her brother's legs and hugged them tightly. "I never thought it would end like this. I always thought I'd be eaten by an alligator or maybe Paige's nagging would finally get me to jump off a cliff. Not getting sucked into a black hole of all things."

"I don't think this is an actual black hole, Abby. If it was, our molecules would have been torn apart already." Ty stated.

"Oh, Ty. I'm going to miss how you always corrected me on trivial nonsense."

Ty felt his arms getting tiered when he noticed the Photon Receiver. It was right in front of him and it was close, only a few meters away from him. Ty's face turned into a determined scowl before letting go with his right arm.

"Ty, what are you doing?" Abby asked despairingly.

The orange clad Grossologist aimed his Gross-Pincher at the Photon Receiver. "I'm making another go at it."

"But if you do we might get stuck in here!" Abby cried out in despair.

"If I don't, the entire city might be in danger."

Abby closed her eyes and let out a mournful sigh. "Do it."

The claw ejected from the handle and latched onto the Photon Receiver. Ty then jerked his arm back and forcefully disconnected the strange looking device which fell onto the floor with a clang. For a moment, Ty felt a sense of pride and relief but it was soon replaced by fear when instead of shutting down, The Wormhole started trembling even more.

"Why isn't it shutting down already?" Ty questioned.

"Lance must have lied to us!" Abby screamed. "That bastard!"

One final powerful tremor caused Ty to lose his grip and the Grossologists were blown into the vortex.

"Tyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

"Aaaaaaaaaabbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Their cries for one another was the last sound of the Archer siblings before their silhouettes vanished into the shinning vortex. The vortex spun a few more laps before incrementally vanishing and once it did, the tremors ceased and the machine shut down.

Without the gravitational pull, nothing was keeping Lance Boil afloat and he hit the floor with a thud. "Ouch." The former Grossologist felt extremely dizzy as he rose onto his feet. He shacked his pulpous head, trying to get rid of the vertigo. He then looked around, noticing the room had been completely cleaned of anything that wasn't bolted to the floor.

That was when Lance Boil had a revelation. They were gone. Ty and Abby were gone. He didn't expect them to get sucked in or that The Wormhole would shut down in such a violent manner but he couldn't deny how fortunate the results were.

A small, nervous chuckle escaped his lips. A somewhat lauder chuckle escaped after that. An entire bout of laughter finally burst out of his throat. He laughed uncontrollable like he'd gone insane. "I did it! They're finally gone! They even left the Photon Receiver behind so I can continue with my scheme."

Lance let out another maniacal laugh but stopped once he noticed he'd been covered in shade by a tall, looming figure. He turned around and saw The Detective standing right behind him. "Oh, for pit sake."

The Detective grabbed the miniature madman and pinned him face first against the control board and handcuffed him. "You're going to jail permanently this time, Boil. Now, tell me where the Grossologists went."

Despite his cheek pressing against the hard steel, Lance Boil still managed to smirk. "Well, with a little bit of luck…they've left this world."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And so a new arc of the Season 3 saga begins, the Alternate Universe arc which will last for two episodes. I've always speculated what a reverse universe for Grossology would be like, one where all the characters are the complete opposite of what they are in canon. Something akin to **_**Transformers: Shattered Glass**_** or **_**Earth-3**_** of the **_**DC-Universe**_** where the heroes are bad guys and the villains are good guys. It wasn't until I saw **_**Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse**_** that I really started to turn this into a story and I decided to set it in my Season 3 series so I wouldn't be distracted by other projects.**

**Now, you may wonder why only the original duo of Ty & Abby appear in this story and not Naomi, Andy or Chester. Well, I've learned that whenever you introduce new concepts like this as well as a bunch of new characters you should probably keep it as simple as possible. It would just be incredible messy to have all those characters in the same scene while also introducing all this new stuff. Besides, I want this to be a story anyone can read regardless of whether they've read my other stories.**

**Sorry that this Prologue got so long. Originally it was going to be much shorter with T.P Skinner instead of Lance Boil (fitting since Skinner looks like **_**Doc Brown**_**) but I felt Lance Boil would be more suitable. It makes it easier to contrast the original evil characters and their heroic counterparts.**

**As always, I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me. Does this concept of alternative worlds interest you? Are you excited for what's to come next? Tell me all your thoughts.**

_**Welcome Back, Grossologists!**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

Ty felt his body aching as if the school's entire football team had trampled right over him. He couldn't see anything but he could hear the faint sound of his sister.

"Ty. Ty are you okay? Ty, please Ty, wake up!" She sounded worried.

He slowly opened his eyes and made out the fuzzy image of his sister, leaning over him. He groaned and with aching muscles sat up.

"Ty, you're alive!" Abby jubbilated and brought her brother in for a bone crushing (but no less lovingly) hug.

"Yeah and if we want to keep it that way maybe you shouldn't be hugging me to death." Ty rasped thru his clenched ribcage.

Abby quickly let go of him. "Whoops, sorry." She got onto her feet before offering Ty a helping hand up which he accepted.

First now did Ty get a clear look at his surroundings. They were still at the abandoned manufacturing plant except it looked like someone had air-bombed the place. The building was in ruins, the walls were destroyed. Rubble and burnt metal littered the place. "What happened?"

"Not sure." Abby replied. "Last thing I remember was being sucked into that teleporter and then I blacked out. When I woke up, the place looked like this."

Ty huffed "Some teleporter. We ended up at the exact same place as before."

Abby took a few steeps forth, surveying the ruin. "I don't see Lance Boil anywhere. The weasel must have left while we were still passed out."

Ty laid his eyes on The Wormhole machine. Incredible, it was still standing but it had been scorched to a black crisp of melted metal. A large chunk of the ring was also missing. However, one thing was still intact. "Wait a minute…" Ty squinted. The Photon Receiver was perfectly intact and still plugged into the machine.

"That can't be right. I'm sure I managed to unplug it before we were sucked in." Ty said as he climbed the stairs up The Wormhole's platform. He took a stern hold of the peculiar device and yanked it free from the socket.

"Come on!" Abby hollered, gesturing him to come with her. "If we take the GRS-2 we might be able to catch up to that pimpled prick." The athletic teenager exclaimed before rushing out of the demolished building.

Ty stuffed the Photon Receiver in his backpack before running to catch up with his sister.

* * *

The siblings ran towards a patch of woods located a stone-throw away from the building. However, once they arrived at the place, they abruptly stopped in their tracks, both just starring out at the area where they had landed their vehicle.

"Um, Ty?" Abby asked baffled. "You did land the GRS here, right?"

"Yeah." Ty replied in the same stunned tone.

"Then where is it?" She loudly exclaimed. It was true, the experimental vehicle where nowhere to be seen, just an open forest edge of bare dirt.

"Im-impossible." Ty stated as he walked out on the field, surveying the area without seeing anything. "I know we landed the GRS-2 right here and it couldn't have been stolen. The security system activates automatically."

"I call LabRat. Maybe he can send us another ride." Abby tapped the Gross-Com in her ear (the Gross-Com, the Grossologist's latest communication device). "LabRat? LabRat, are you there?" She asked but got no response. "Weird. No signal."

Ty tapped his Gross-Com. "Me neither." He took out the earpiece and examined it. "Doesn't seem broken thou."

Abby sighed and pinched her nose bridge in frustration. "This is getting ridiculous. First the villains escape, then the GRS-2 goes missing and now we can't reach the gaglab. How are we supposed to get around now?"

"Well, we still have one option." Ty stated and jerked his thumb behind his back.

* * *

_A few minutes later…_

Ty propelled himself thru the air with his jetpack while awkwardly holding his sister bridle style. "Don't mention this to anyone." Abby exclaimed, embarrassed over having to be carried like some damsel by her little brother.

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Why can't you carry me by the wrists as usual?"

"Cause you've gotten too heavy for that."

"If we weren't flying three-hundred meters above the ground, I'd slap you."

"You don't understand. I meant you've gotten too _top-heavy_."

"Again, I would have slapped you!"

Ty sighed. "There's just no safe way to mention a woman's weight, is there?"

Ringworm City came into view. However, there was something that caused both siblings to gasp in unison. Ty ascended onto a nearby rooftop and let Abby slip safely onto the roof before landing himself. Yet both couldn't take their eyes off what was in front of them.

It was a tremendous building towering up in the middle of the city, at least twice the size of any New York skyscraper. However it's enormous stature was not what had the Archer siblings gawking. Atop the tower was huge, green neon sign in the shape of a G, the symbol of the bureau of Grossology.

"That wasn't there before, was it?" Ty asked dumbfounded.

"I think we would remember a towering skyscraper with the bureau's logo on it." Abby retorted sarcastically. "But at what point would The Director have time to construct a huge building in the middle of the city? We weren't knocked out for that long." The last she added as a sort of joke.

"I don't know. Come on, let's check out downtown." Ty said as he once again took flight. He carried his sister down by the wrist this time and carried her down to the street below. He deactivated his jetpack and landed next to her. "So, shall we try to go home or-"

"I want to check out that tower we saw." Abby cut him off and started leading them to city central without further question.

As they walked thru the city, the unusual silence of the place was becoming eerie. Both felt it as a shiver running down their spine, like they expected someone would scream bloody murder any second. "Hey Ty, are you noticing something?"

"Yeah, no traffic."

Abby gazed at _The Soup Fly_ as they passed by the typically fully booked restaurant but now seemed as empty as the streets they were walking on. "And all the shops and restaurants are closed too. What's going on here?"

Ty abruptly grabbed her hand and shushed her. "Do you hear that?"

Abby was a bit confused as to what her brother was referring to but she tried to listen more carefully and eventually she heard something as well. Something blustering and wheezing coming towards them. "Is that a… motorcycle?"

At that moment, a sleek vehicle drove onto the crossroad in front of them before turning, heading straight towards them. The first thing they noticed was that no one was driving it, making it more of a drone than a vehicle. It had two large wheels at the rear and one smaller wheel at the front. It stopped right in front of them which was when they noticed its most peculiar feature. Its hood was shaped like the head of big, white rat with glowing, red camera eyes. The drone also had a mechanical tail at its rear with two sets of sharp pinchers at the tip.

In other words, it was like someone had tried to build a robotic version of Hermes.

The Grossologist's confusion only escalated after the drone raised its head and spoke. _"CITIZENS ARE IN VIOLATION OF CERFEW LAW 001. ALL CITIZENS NOT AT WORK NEED TO BE INDOORS AFTER NINE A.M. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THIS LAW WILL BE MEET WITH SEVERE PUNISHMENT BY ORDER OF THE BUREAU OF GROSSOLOGY."_

Abby exchanged puzzled looks with her brother before turning to the drone. "Curfew? We've never heard of any curfew?"

The drone studied the two teenagers thru its red eyes.

"Did the bureau send you?"

As the girl spoke, the robotic rat recorded her voice and compared it against its library of voice samples. Once it found a match, its response was surprising to say the least. _"MISTRESS ABIGAIL ARCHER. EXCEMPT FROM ALL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. RANK OF HIGH SUPERIORITY." _The drone lowered its head and Abby to blink, even more confused. _"APOLOGY FOR INCONVINIENCE YOU MISTRESS. HAVE A PLEASANT DAY." _It said in its robotic voice before driving away from them. The Grossologists followed it with their eyes till it disappeared when rounding a corner.

"Okay, that was weird." Abby exclaimed.

"No kidding. What was that about curfew laws and what did it mean by _'on order of the bureau of Grossology'_?" Ty questioned.

"And why did it call me mistress?" Abby questioned, tapping her chest. At that moment, the duo heard sirens in the distance. "Is that polis sirens?"

"Yeah." Ty said and activated her jetpack. "Come on, we might spot them from up high." He locked his arms around Abby's torso and the two flew off. Ty landed them atop a rooftop. A somewhat shorter one this time. Ty and Abby spread out so they could look out from different directions. "Do you see the cops, Abby?"

Abby covered her forehead as she spied over the block. "No…but I do see someone." What Abby saw was a girl in her late teens with long, curly blonde hair, wearing a military green jacket as she ran thru the streets, carrying a brown shoulder bag.

* * *

The blonde girl felt like she had been running for hours. Her lungs ached with each breath she took and her legs were tiered to the point that they felt like jelly. "How did this happened? I thought I was careful to cover all my tracks." The girl vented to herself as she kept on running.

Then she noticed one of those security drones up ahead. She stopped in her tracks for a moment but to her relief it didn't seem like it had noticed her. She turned to her left and ran straight into an alley.

The alleyway was cut off by a fence but that wouldn't stop her. She jumped on top of a trashcan before leaping onto the fence before pulling herself over.

However, the moment her feet touched the ground on the other side, a spotlight shone right at her, almost blinding her with its intense light. She covered her eyes with her hand while trying to look thru her fingers.

The light was coming from a police car which was blocking the exit to the alleyway. A sense of dread filled the teenage girl as she tried to back away, only for her back to press against the fence.

One of the police car's doors opened and a tall, burly man with a thick moustache stepped out.

* * *

Up on the rooftop, the Grossologists recognized the lawman who had just stepped onto scene. "It's the Detective." Abby exclaimed.

"It sure is." Ty said and offered Abby a hand. "Come on, it's time to finally get some answers."

* * *

The girl tried to flee up the fence but The Detective grabbed her by the neck, metallic fingers clenching her windpipes before roughly yanking her down to the ground. She tried to get up but the tall man kicked her hard enough to flip her around. He then stomped her chest, pinning her against the fence.

"You gave me quite the chase, you little brat." The lawman snarled at her with his gruff voice. "I wonder how big my bonus will be when I turn you in to the Gross-Lords." He chuckled and grinded his shoe against her collarbone.

Ty and Abby landed behind The Detective without him noticing and started to carefully approach him. They both felt there was something that wasn't quite right here. "Um, Detective?" Ty spoke up.

"Ted Burklow?" Abby chimed in.

The Detective turned around and the sight of him caused the siblings to gasp in unison.

It was indeed The Detective they knew but his right eye was missing. Instead he gazed upon them with a red camera lens.

In addition to his eye, his right arm was mechanical. From his shoulder joint to his digits, all made of charcoal-black and silver-grey panels and powered by electric wiring. He was a cyborg. Part human, part machine.

The Archer siblings couldn't stop staring at him with their jaws agape.

The cyborg blinked with his one organic eye. "Master Tyler, Mistress Abigail." He swiftly bowed to them. His robotic eye examined them for a moment. "I see you're wearing your old outfits tonight. Not as lethal but they suit you. And Abigail, your hair is different."

"Um…" Ty tried to say something but couldn't find the words.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" The burly cyborg asked. "I hope you haven't lost faith in me. That would break my pacemaker." He chuckled deeply.

"What-what happened to your arm?" The question slipped out of Abby's lips.

The Detective was taken aback. "What do you mean?" He flexed his mechanical fingers. "You know how I got my prosthetic. I followed Lance Boil into an oil rig and the bugger set off an explosive. Just barely managed to survive but luckily you Gross-Lords managed to patch me up."

"Gross-Lords?" Ty questioned puzzled and exchanged looks with his sister.

The cyborg placed his hands on his hips. "By the way, why did you call me Detective earlier?" He smiled haughtily. "You know I go by _The Enforcer_ nowadays, right?"

As he was talking, Abby looked over at the blonde girl who'd been hunted down. She was still on her knees, stroking her sore throat. It wasn't until the girl's locked eyes with one another that Abby recognized her. "Paige?"

"Huh?" Ty were surprised to hear that and tried to get a glimpse at the girl behind The Enforcer. Reading his intensions, the cyborg stepped to the side to give him a clear view. "Whoa, that is Paige."

The Paige in front of them looked almost completely like the snobby, popular girl they knew, from hair to body shape but her attire had made it difficult to recognize her from afar. She didn't have her characteristic pink cap and she wore a military green jacket which seemed a few sizes too big for her. Underneath she wore a pink tank shirt and a pair of pink jeans. She seemed to have been in a hurry to dress herself.

"Yeah, that anonymous tip you guys got paid off." The Enforcer stated. "She won't be able to cause you anymore trouble."

"Me?" Abby gasped. At first she thought he was referring to all the bullying Paige had put her thru but when she thought about it she questioned how The Detective could know about that. While it was true that the Archer siblings has a certain bound with The Detective, she couldn't remember ever mentioning her relationship with the popular blonde.

The cyborg's one good eye blinked again. "Oh, I get it. You came here to finish her yourself. Do you have a weapon?"

Abby was so surprised by the question that she answered without thinking. "I got my goopshooter."

"You usually carry something deadlier." The Enforcer huffed and started rummaging thru his trench coat. He fished out a gun and offered it to the redhead. "Here. Its old but should get the job done."

Immediately, Abby slapped the weapon out of the lawman's hand. The alley became so silent one could hear a pin drop.

Looking at the girl, The Enforcer was almost frightened by the glares she aimed at him. He blinked before letting out a nervous chuckle. "I guess you're right. If we kill her, we can't take her back to the station for questioning. You always enjoyed torturing people for info. Or just for the fun of it."

"No, I don't!" Abby snapped at him, her anger finally boiling over. "I would never do anything like that. I mean, the baseball team called it torture when I made them train for another thirty minutes but that was total hyperbole. I don't understand where you could have gotten such a terrible misconception of me…"

As the Grossologist continued to argue with the cyborg, Paige continued staring at them. Her mind struggled to make sense of what was happening. _'What's going on? She looks just like Abigail Archer but she acts nothing like her. And the words she's using, those would never come out of Abigail's mouth."_

"Are you okay?"

The voice startled her. She turned her head and saw Ty crouching next to her, offering her a helping hand. The concern was evident in both his voice and his blue eyes but so was the confusion he felt.

'_These two don't seem to know what's going on either.' _Paige reluctantly laid her hand in Ty's and he pulled her onto her feet.

The arguing between Abby and The Enforcer had reached its boiling point. "What did Paige do that was so bad anyway?" Abby asked furiously.

"She's suspected to be a member of _The Resistance_." The cyborg spat out the words along with a few droplets of saliva.

Abby blinked before raising an eyebrow. "What's The Resistance?"

The Enforcer was so surprised he almost took a step back. His mouth was agape as he stared at the redhead, gazed over at Ty and Paige before resuming staring at Abby. His eyes then closed and his lips curved into a bitter scowl. "You don't know what happened to my arm. You don't know of the Resistance. You neither dress nor talk like my superiors." He summarised. "I think its best if you all follow me to the station so we can clear this up."

Abby's eyes narrowed. "Willingly?"

"You two can just go ahead and get into my car" He turned to Paige, "but her I need to put to sleep." He raised his mechanical arm and what looked like an advanced cattle-proud ejected from his wrist. He aimed it at the blonde but right before he fired, Ty grabbed her wrist and tossed into a corner and the electric weapon only managed to burn a portion of the fence behind them. Ty then got in front of Paige and spread his arms, making a clear statement no one was getting to this girl without going thru him.

The cyborg growled in frustration until Abby summersaulted over his shoulder, landed in-between him and her teammate and aimed her goopshooter at him.

"The Detective I know would never harm anyone who couldn't defend themselves." Abby proclaimed.

"I told you, I am not The Detective. I am The Enforcer!" The cyborg growled and aimed his electric weapon at her. "And you are not the Gross-Lords. So who the bloody hell are you?"

Time seemed to stand still as the Grossologist and the cyborg stared each other down. Both had drawn their weapons but neither seemed to want to fire first.

Their Mexican stand-off was suddenly interrupted by a green marble streaking across the alley and shattered against a dumpster container next to the combatants, incinerating a large chunk of it with the corrosive acid that was released on impact.

Noxious fumes spread out in both directions. Abby immediately jumped out of the way. Ty wrapped arm around Paige and covered her mouth with his hand before jumping out of reach of the gas.

The Enforcer took a step back and covered his nose with his sleeve. He coughing a bit.

"I'm losing patience with you, Enforcer. How long should it take to bag one spoiled bitch?" A familiar, female voice echoed between the buildings.

Ty and Abby looked up to see where the voice had come from and it was then they had their biggest shock yet.

There, standing atop a fire escape, sporting a black and yellow bodysuit and some sort of riffle was a teenage girl with long red hair.

A teenage girl who looked exactly like Abby.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And that was chapter 1. I know this chapter was rather slow and not much was accomplished but I'm trying to space out all these character introductions as much as possible. I feel if I tried to introduce too many characters at once it would just be messy and slow the story down even more.**

**At least I did manage to introduce a few characters in this chapter. This universe's version of The Detective, **_**The Enforcer**_**. I don't know where I got the idea to make him a cyborg. Thought it would look cool I guess. The original Detective was mostly defined by his calm demeanour, monotone voice and go-with-the-flow attitude so I thought this version of the character would be impulsive and easily riled up. Kind of makes it ironic that he's less robotic than the original Detective despite being part machine.**

**This world's Paige was introduced in this chapter as well. She will have a lot more to do later in the story. I felt that if the original Paige was a mean-spirited, narcissistic valley girl, the reverse version of her would be a kind-hearted, shy science nerd who wouldn't mind joining the Grossologists.**

**AU Abby was teased here as well but I'll wait talking about her till a future chapter.**

**For those that have read my other stories, you might remember **_**The Soup Fly **_**from **_**Darkest Blight**_**. It was the restaurant where Ty and Naomi had their date.  
Since this fanfic takes place in my Season 3 series, the Grossologists do not have Grossometers since I replaced them with other devices in a previous story (hence that clumsy exposition).**

**There's not much more to say about this chapter. I admit I didn't edit this as carefully as I could but I've been swamped with schoolwork and is just too tired to go thru this chapter with a fine toothed combe, so if there are any egregious spelling mistakes I apologize.**

**As usual, any feedback you guys can give me is appreciated.**

_**See you on the flipside, Grossologists.**_


	3. Chapter 2

**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

The Archer siblings were aghast as their eyes remained strained on the girl above them. The girl who seemed like a perfect replica of Abigail Archer.

From her perch atop the fire escape, the Abigail copy gazed at them like a bird of prey. She practically radiated confidence and bemused arrogance. "My, my. Don't you two look adorable? Are you fans trying cosplay?" She mused.

"Um, eh…" Abby tried to say something but lost her train of thought.

The other Abigail smirked and attached her acid riffle to her belt before leaping off the fire escape. She grabbed onto a ledge which plunged till it was low enough for her to jump onto the ground. She then turned to face the strangers. "Cause if you are, you should know we haven't used those slimesuits since…well, since we quit being Grossologists."

Now when they were face to face with the girl, the Grossologists got a much clearer view of what she looked like. She was completely identical to their Abby except for two things, her hair and her outfit. Instead of one big ponytail, this Abby sported two long pigtails which streamed from the side of her scalp down to her feet.

Instead of the various shades of yellow and patches of black that Abby wore, the colours on this girl's outfit was more monochrome yellow and black, reminiscent of a wasp. Her neck, chest, thighs, lower arms and boots were covered in black leather while her abdomen, upper arms and lower legs were yellow. Her chest also sported a green, luminescent emblem of the Grossologist logo. Her goggles were also somewhat different from theirs in that they were red instead of green.

Paige Logan was still clutched in Ty's protective arms, her wide eyes staring in disbelief. In front of her were now two Abigail Archers. _'What's happening here? Are these two clones?'_

Finally, Ty shook his head. Now was not the time to be flabbergast. It wasn't the first time he'd seen a live replica of his sister, he reminded himself. He let go of the blonde girl and took a few steps forward. "We're not cosplaying. We are real Grossologists. My name's Tyler Archer but my friends calls me Ty."

The Abby duplicate seemed taken aback by this. She tilted her head to the side. "Do you claim to be my bother?" Her eyes narrowed in on the boy as her hand gripped her riffle. "Cause impersonating a Gross-Lord is a serious offense." Her voice dripped with malice.

That caused Abby to snap out of her stupor. "Hey!" She took a confident step forth. "He is _my _brother and no one threatens him when I'm around."

"Let me guess, you're supposed to be me, right?" The other Abigail spat.

"No. I am me. Abigail Archer, the one and only."

"Well, that ain't exactly true." Ty chimed in. "Remember that clone Lance made?"

"Not now, Ty!"

Abigail Archer kept glaring at the two strangers that held a near uncanny resemblance her and her brother. Just by the look of her face one could tell she was making her calculations. She then turned her attention to the blonde girl covering behind the impersonators. "Paige Logan."

Paige almost flinch.

"I always suspected you were involved with the Resistance. I should have followed my gut instinct and killed you a long time ago." She then gestured to the Archer siblings. "So, care to tell me who these two are? Did your boss finally realize he couldn't beat us himself so he created lamer versions to fight us with?"

Paige swallowed her fear. She clutched her fists, scowled with determination and stepped forwards, getting in line with the Archer siblings. "I don't know these people any more than you do Abigail," She raised her arm to gesture to the siblings, "but they protected me from you and your goon. That makes them my allice and if you try to hurt them I won't hesitate to repay their kindness."

Abby and Ty looked at the blonde with evident confusion in their eyes. Never, in a million years would they expect Paige Logan to say something like that but when she beamed them a genuine smile, they couldn't help but smile back at her. At least for now, they stood united against a common foe.

Abigail smiled calmly. She then nonchalantly jerked her riffle, freeing its magazine. "So, you've impersonated your supreme leaders." She popped an acidic bullet into the magazine. "You've broken curfew laws." She popped a second bullet. "And you're conspiring with a known Resistance agent." A third bullet disappeared into the magazine. "As far as I know, that's more than enough for lethal elimination." With that said she raised her weapon, aiming it directly at Ty.

The spikey haired boy took a fearful step back, almost stepping on a clover growing thru a crack in the asphalt.

Abigail squeezed the trigger and fired an acid bullet right at Ty. However, just as it was about to collide with its target…

The clover suddenly grew to the size of a small tree, blocking the projectile which disintegrated one of the now colossal leaves.

"What the…" Ty exclaimed, completely baffled.

"Did that plant just…?" Abby said, equally astonished.

"This ain't good." The Enforcer stated.

At that moment, huge vines cracked thru the concrete ground and started reaching for Abigail and The Enforcer. The teenage girl managed to leap out of the way but the cyborg was ensnared by the plant life. "Not this again." He growled with irritation and started tearing it to shreds with his metallic fingers.

Abigail kept leaping away from the approaching vines. She jumped onto the ledge of the fire escape and started firing at the plants with her acid riffle. She surveyed the area and her lips curved into a manic grin. "So, you finally decided to show up. _Darling_."

Ty and Abby once again found themselves completely baffled by yet another confusing situation. "What is happening?" Abby questioned.

"It's our chance to escape, that's what!"

The Archer siblings snapped their heads in Paige's direction and saw the blonde climbing one of the vines in order to get over the fence. She gestured with her arm for them to come with her. The two followed her over the fence. Once they were all on the other side, Paige started running. Ty and Abby still had a ton of questions but right now they put their trust in this new version of Paige as they followed her out of the dark alley.

Unfortunately, as soon as they got out on the open street, they all stopped in their tracks as they were quickly surrounded on all sides by an army of those Hermes-drones.

"Out of the frying pan and into the nuclear incinerator." Ty sighed. The Archer siblings drew their goopshooters and to their surprise, Paige also pulled a goopshooter from underneath her coat.

"Wait, you have a goopshooter?" Abby asked confused.

"Well, a girl needs to protect herself somehow."

Abby put two and two together and came up with a startling hypothesis. "Are you a Grossologist as well?"

"Girls, less chatting, more shooting!" Ty exclaimed.

The trio started firing their weapons at the incoming drones. They mostly fired at the robots' wheels, pasting them to the road. Their strategy seemed to be working. Not only was the closest drones immobilized but they also prevented their comrades behind them from getting closer. Still, they knew this was only temporary as the drones further back started dismembering their immobilized comrades.

Using their acrobatic skills, Paige and Abby jumped onto the back of the nearest drones and kept on jumping, hoping to get to safety. Abby landed atop another drone and before she could even react, the drone lashed out at her with its clawed tail. Just as it was about to grab her however, a slimy projectile collided with the claw, clogging it up and stopping it.

Abby looked over to where the goo had come from and saw Paige, standing atop a defeated, slime covered Hermes-drone. The blonde smiled and gave her a wink. _'This Paige is nothing like the one I know.' _Abby thought. _'She's amazing!'_

Ty activated his jetpack and took to the sky, firing his goopshooter at the drones from up ahead. It seemed to work but his success was short-lived. One of the drones grabbed his foot with its clawed tail and the Grossologist cried out in pain. The drone then slammed him head first against the ground before lifting him up and tossed him like a ragdoll.

"Ty!" Abby cried out and leaped to rescue. She managed to catch her bother before he hit the pavement. Abby crouched down as she cradled her teammate. "Ty, are you okay? Ty?"

Ty opened his eyes. "Oh no, Abby! Evil Abby is right next to you…and she has a twin." The boy prattled deliriously as he looked at her sister with blurry, distorted vision.

Firmly yet carefully, Abby slapped his cheek. "Ty, I can't have you pass out now. We need all hands on deck."

Ty blinked and shook his head till his vision was back to normal. He still felt rather ill thou so Abby assisted him onto his feet. Unbeknownst to the Archer siblings, Paige had been behind them, protecting them by firing at the incoming Hermes-drones. Ty and Abby crowded next to the blonde and started firing their goopshooters.

They were back at square one.

"This may just be my head trauma talking but I feel we're not making much progress." Ty quipped sarcastically.

At that moment, Paige noticed a being running atop a rooftop on the other side of the road, its clothing flailing as it did so. The sight made her smile, filling her with hope. "Don't worry. Reinforcement is about to arrive."

The creature Paige witnessed crouched by the edge of the roof and threw dozens of pellet-sized projectiles over the drones. Those projectiles were seed capsules and upon colliding with the robots' hides they sprouted into vines, anchoring themselves into the ground and into the drones' inner machinery. Some were merely immobilized, others were crushed and torn apart by the penetrating plants.

"Wow." Ty exclaimed. "It's as if someone robbed Sarah Senia's weapon store or something."

The creature on the rooftop jumped off the building, extended a vine from out of his palm and swung it at a nearby lamppost, allowing him to swing towards the ground. The creature then leaped and landed right in front of the teenagers.

The sight of this strange human being caused Ty and Abby to have must have been their twelfth shock that night. He was a boy at their age and at first he seemed to be covered by plant material. However, they soon realized he wasn't covered by plant material, he was_ made _out of plant material.

The skin on his face was green like algae. His hair was made out of lime green fern leaves. His long _"coat" _was made out of some kind of moss and his legs were covered by some sort of weed. His knees, elbows and shoulders were protected by pads of bark and wood stuck out from his chest and his knuckles, making it look like maybe his entire skeleton was made out of wood. Further, his anatomy seemed rather chaotic with vines, grass and mosses sticking up at random places. However, Abby noticed something rather familiar with those vulnerable brown eyes of his.

Before either of the siblings could say anything, the mutated boy threw a couple of seed capsules at them. The moment they collided with their chests, they sprouted into large vines which ensnared them like boa constrictors and anchored themselves in the concrete beneath them.

"Hey, what's the deal, pal?" Ty exclaimed as he and his sister struggled in their binds to no avail.

The mutant didn't answer. Instead he swiftly got in front of Paige, stretching his arms like he was trying to protect her.

"Kid Root," Paige cried out and placed a hand on his shoulder, "what are you doing?"

The mutated boy, apparently called Kid Root gave a perplexed look. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm protecting us from the Gross-Lords."

"It's not them!" Paige cried out.

"Huh?"

"I know they look like them but believe me, they're nothing like the Archer siblings we know. They saved my life and I'm I am saving theirs."

After hearing that, Kid Root turned his gaze at the entrapped Grossologists. They looked back at him but there was no familiar malice or superiority in their gaze. Actually, Abigail's blue irises seemed to radiate empathy, almost like she pleaded for him to make the right decision.

Kid Root huffed. "This is a trick. They're trying to deceive us."

Then, as if this night hadn't been strange enough, an odd looking Venus flytrap suddenly sprouted out of the boy's shoulder. "Take it easy, my friend."

"It talks! The plant talks!" Ty practically screamed.

Yes, the carnivorous plant actually talked to the boy it was attached to. "Remember, things don't always seem like they appear but you should always give your friends the benefit of a doubt. You know Paige only wants what's best for you."

Kid Root frowned at the flytrap like he'd just sniffed something nasty. He wanted to trust his friend's judgement but at the same time he didn't want to let the Archer siblings go. He had perceived them as a threat for so long it been ingrained into his nature.

"Oh, darling!" A familiar and (to Chester) terrifying voice echoed thru the neighbourhood block like an icy wind. Everyone turned and witnessed Abigail stepping out of the dark alley. "I am so happy you could make it to this little banquette of pain." She raised her acid riffled and fired at her _darling._

Quickly, Kid Root manifested a shield made of bark from his arm which took the hit of the acidic bullet. "Okay, now I believe you." He stretched out his hand towards the Archer siblings and the vines loosened their grip on them, letting them safely slip onto the ground.

'_He did that with merely a thought.' _Abby thought. _'Not only can this guy make plants grow really fast, he can also manipulate their movement somehow. He's so powerful and I can't shake this feeling I've seen him before.'_

Abigail fired off a series of acid bullets at the Grossologists but Kid Root jumped in front of them and produced two giant sunflowers out of his palms which took the bullets.

"Get out of here! I'll hold her back!" He ordered.

"To where?" Abby asked.

Paige rushed up and grabbed Abby by the wrist. "Come with me if you want to live." She proceeded with dragging the redhead after her as she headed towards a manhole cover by the sidewalk, Ty following the two. Paige lifted up the heavy lid and with a tired huff, tossed it aside. "Get down there." She pointed to the manhole, leading down to the sewers.

"Anyone ever noticed how these manhole covers are never bolted and how people can just slip in and out of them as they please." Ty sarcastically japed.

"Don't be cheeky." Abby scolded him as she climbed down into the pipe. Ty followed suit.

Paige remained at the surface. "Kid Root!" She called out to her friend. "It's time to retreat."

"Go ahead, I'll follow you soon enough!" Kid Root shouted back, his shield of bark taking more hits from the acidic bullets.

Paige nodded before disappearing thru the manhole.

Another hail of bullets and his shield was gone. Kid Root then latched out with three vines out of his hand which wrapped up Abigail, arms and legs included. He then pulled the girl towards him, readying his fist to strike.

Before his fist could meet her face, Abigail jumped into the air, spun around, landed on Kid Root's shoulders and used them like a springboard. His vines snapped as a result of the sudden strain and Abigail landed behind him, her restraints lying in shreds around her.

Kid Root turned only to be punched in the face by Abigail. He staggered back but managed to keep his balance. Abigail came at him again but he managed to grab her wrist.

"And here I thought this Sunday would be boring." Abigail mused and kneed her opponent in the stomach. Kid Root felt the air escape his lungs and he bent over. Abigail proceeded with kicking the mutant to the ground. "First I uncovered Paige's secret identity, then I meet a pair of doppelgangers and now I get reunited with my husband-to-be."

Kid Root sighed. "Get over yourself." Suddenly, a tree branch ejected out his shoulder, slamming into the Gross-Lord's forehead and knocking her off her feet.

As Abigail tried to sit up, still dizzy and her forehead having a noticeable red bruise, Kid Root scrambled onto his feet and put some distance between himself and the malicious girl. He then threw some seed capsules in front of him and they sprouted into a huge, thick wall of grass.

"No." Abigail rose up. "No!" She cried out as she ran into the thick growth of tree-sized grass. The thickness and multitude of blades made it difficult for her to get thru. As she struggled with the blades of grass, Abigail couldn't help but feel like a small beetle racing to get thru a poorly kept lawn. She hated it, she hated feeling small and hated even more that her man was getting away from her.

Finally, Abigail got thru the forest of supersized weeds but to her dismay there were no one on the other side. No Paige, no sexy Kid Root, no one. As soon as she spotted the open manhole she rushed over to it. When she peered into it she saw it had been completely obstructed by roots, ferns and other vegetation. She growled like a mad dog, drew her acid riffle and fired a couple arounds into the hole but that only cleared away the upper layers of plant life. Abigail sighed in defeat, realizing that by the time she'd get thru all this foliage Paige and her companions would be long gone.

She pulled out her Grossometer, set it to cell phone mode and held it to her ear. "RatLab, our suspicions about Paige was right all along but something even weirder has just come up."

"_Let me guess. You encountered some doppelgangers." _A voice spoke to her over the line, sounding an awful lot like a certain dark skinned shut-in.

Abigail blinked. "Tha-that's right. How did you know?"

"_I know everything. Meet up with your brother in the Gagtower. Its time I tell you two about the project I've been working on. It will be my magnum opus."_

* * *

Down in the sewers, Paige kept on running with the Archer siblings and Kid Root in toe. All of them were panting from exhaustion and their legs were aching.

Eventually, Paige stopped in front of a sewer pipe, blocked by a grid. "Stay back!" She ordered causing Abby to stop in her tracks and Kid Root to run right into her.

"Whoops, sorry." Abby once again found herself looking into his eyes which kept reminding her of someone back at home. Even his voice and the way the leaves atop his head cascaded over his face seemed familiar.

Kid Root simple grunted and took a step away from her.

Even thou the sewer pipe seemed locked, Paige easily discarded the padlock and opened the grid. "Alright, follow me." She said as he jumped into the sewer pipe. The others followed her. Paige seemed well acquainted with the sewer system and had no issue wadding thru the sewage. Once again, she seemed completely different from the snobby, valley girl they used to know.

Soon enough, they entered some sort of cylindrical chamber. A dried out drainage pipe, maybe. Here they stopped to catch their breath. "Paige," Abby vented thru haggard breaths, "you were amazing back there."

The blonde girl smiled at her. "Thanks. You were pretty amazing too, Abigail."

"People call me Abby."

"Okay, then I do so too, Abby."

"How did you learn to fight like that? And why are you suddenly so nice and considerate and capable?"

Paige blushed and averted her eyes. "Um, um." She acted more like Chester than the normal Paige, someone who'd be embarrassed over receiving praise. "Well, Lance Boil trained me to fight and to use the goopshooter. I don't know of all the other stuff."

"You know Lance Boil?" Abby asked.

"Yes, I am actually taking you directly to him right now." The blonde replied.

"Woow!" Kid Root brought up his hands defensively. "Hold on there, Paige. Do you really trust these guys enough to bring them directly to our hideout?"

That weird Venus flytrap appeared again on his shoulder. "Have you already forgotten everything I told you about trust, Chester?"

"CHESTER!" Ty and Abby shrieked in unison.

"I knew it." Abby exclaimed and walked towards the mutant boy. "I knew I recognised those brown eyes and that weathered voice." She took a gentle hold of Chester's wrist. "Chester, what happened to you?"

Chester tensed up for a moment before yanking his hand free from her grasp and pushed her back a few steps. "Stay out of my comfort zone until further notice, understood?"

Abby blinked. She studied her old friend with a confused eyes. What could have happened to turn him into this plant creature and what had happened between them to make him this hostile towards her.

"A lot of people seem to have changed." Ty stated. He clutched his chin as he contemplated. "I think I have a theory as to what's going on here. It seems we're stuck in a sci-fi cliché."

Abby raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Lance Boil's teleportation machine! It didn't just send us to a different place." Ty explained. "It brought us to an entire different _dimension!_ Another world if you will. One where good is bad and bad is good. Where Paige is nice and you are mean."

Paige and Abby raised eyebrows in unison and exchanged puzzled looks. Paige then shrugged and raised her arms. "Well, regardless of who you are or where you come from I am taking you to see Lance."

"Why?" Chester asked.

Paige gestured to the siblings. "Cause they need our help and you know I can't stop myself from helping people."

"Okay, this must be some kind of dream world cause you're everything I ever wished Paige would be." Abby exclaimed.

* * *

_A few minutes later…_

The group continued wandering the sewers as Ty explained to Paige and Kid Root about their latest mission and how they returned to find the city changed.

"So you two are still Grossologists?" Paige asked, eyes closed and arms crossed over her chest.

"Exactly. I'm guessing the Ty and Abby of this world used to be Grossologists as well." Ty replied. "Evil Abby mentioned something like that."

"And not only is Lance Boil evil in your world but he's also a pink, mutated midget?" The rich girl asked.

"Hmm." Ty nodded.

Paige scowled and squeezed her sleeve. "That's highly unbelievable. And Insectiva is apparently like a crazy cat lady just with bugs instead?"

Ty smiled. "That's a pretty accurate description."

Paige did a double face-palm and arched her back. "I can't comprehend it!" She groaned in a bewildered tone. "So, they along with a dirty guy named Joe built a wormhole machine which malfunctioned and you two were sucked into it."

"Yeah and when we got back here we noticed that tower with the bureau's logo on it."

"The Gagtower." Paige clarified.

"Yeah, the Gagtower. Then we encountered you and The Enforcer who is not at all like the lovable teddy bear we know."

"Sounds crazy. Like some sort of parody." Paige lamented.

"From your perspective, I guess it must be." A chuckle escaped Ty's lips. After being so frustrated with all of this it was kind of cathartic to see someone else freak out over all this craziness. "Now, can you tell us what has happened with Ringworm City? Why is everything so, so… _dystopian_?"

Paige placed a finger against her chin. "I could but I think its best if I let Lance do it. He has a clearer grasp of the situation than anyone else."

Abby moved closer to Chester. "So, Chester? How did you…" She asked carefully while nodding towards his green body. "Like, what happened to you? How did you become-

"A walking salad?" Kid Root finished her sentence.

"You said it, not me."

The mutated boy huffed. "I ain't telling you anything."

Once again, that odd Venus flytrap popped out of his shoulder. "I am disappointed in you, Chester. You have been nothing but boorish to this sweet girl since you crossed paths with her."

Kid Root didn't say anything. He just simple snarled a bit.

"I have a feeling she will be a valuable ally against the GrossLords, as has you I assume. Telling her a little bit about yourself could go a long way in building trust between you. Certainly you need every ally you can find."

Chester sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you but you better listen carefully. This isn't a story I like to repeat too often."

Abby nodded, although she doubted he noticed.

Chester took a deep breath. "Once upon a time, I was one of the most popular guys at school. I was a grade-A student, I was the lead singer of my own band and I was attractive. Multiple girls wanted to be with me and plenty of guys wanted to hang with me. I was also a complete jackass. Me and my friends used to bully the less fortunate students at our school. Anyway. One day our class visited a research lab for a school trip. Me and a few others decided it be fun to disobey our teacher and wander off on our own. We found a chemical lab and I decided to play around with some of the chemicals, guess I wanted to impress the others. The resulting explosion threw me out a window and into botanical garden. I remember screaming as the searing chemicals tore thru my body but there was nothing anyone could do. My body completely dissolved and was absorbed into the soil. Everybody thought I had died, me too I guess. Then, a couple of months later, my new body grew out of the ground and my mind reawakened. I was horrified at my new appearance. I couldn't face other people, I couldn't reintegrate into society. At the depth of my despair, I started to hear a voice."

"And that voice was me." The Venus flytrap exclaimed, his stem making a little victory twirl.

"I call him Gabber, cause he never shuts up." Chester grunted.

Abby suppressed a chuckle. "Nice to meet you, Gabber. You can call me Abby." The redhead greeted and reached out her hand.

"Pleasure's all mine, my dear." He took her hand in his leaf and kissed her hand, making the girl giggle a bit.

"He helped me tell right from wrong and what I should do with my new powers. I guess he's like my conscience, my own Jiminy Cricket if you will. I started using my plant powers to fight crime and after the GrossLords took over, Lance and Paige approached me to join the Resistance. The rest is history." Chester continued. "Also, Lance has promised me that once the GrossLords have been dealt with he'll do anything in his power to help me regain my humanity."

Abby's face fell into a downtrodden frown. She cupped her hands behind her back and looked to the ground. "That's very different from the Chester I remember but at the same time, sort of similar."

"Really? How so?" Chester uncaringly asked.

"Well, the Chester I know is kind but also rather timid and shy."

"Did he get powers from a lab explosion as well?" The mutated boy questioned.

"Yeah but he got the complete opposite of what you have." Abby explained. "He can rot organic materials at will and he didn't get a conscience to tell him right from wrong. He got an evil split personality that took over his body."

Upon hearing that, Chester blinked in bewilderment before his lips formed a sad smile. "Damn. I guess I'm the lucky one, then."

Next, Paige led them thru yet another pipe so narrow they had to crouch as they went thru it. Abby and Ty didn't say anything, they just followed. Eventually, they reached a shutter with a handle on it. Paige peaked over her shoulder. "This is it. The Resistance's headquarter lies right behind this door."

Abby nodded.

Paige pulled the handle upwards and pushed the shutter open. She slipped out of the pipe, the others followed her and entered a pitch black room.

"Great hideout. It's so well hidden I can't even see anything of it." Ty japed.

Suddenly, a spotlight shinned right at them. The teenagers all flinched at the blinding light. When they opened their eyes, they could make out the silhouette of a figure standing in the shadows, aiming what appeared to be a gun at them.

"Paige Logan," the figure spoke, "any reason why you've brought our mortal enemies right to our doorstep? If they threatened you at gun point, inform them I got them in the _exact_ same position and I never miss."

Ty raised an eyebrow. "Wait. I know that voice."

Paige stepped forwards and raised her arms to protect the people behind her. "Lance, this isn't what it looks like. I know they look like the Archer siblings but they're nothing like them! I brought them here cause they need our help!"

There was a tense moment of dead silence between the parties but eventually, the silhouette shrugged and stuck his gun in its holster. "Yeah, I figured as much. There's no way my best recruit could be so careless." He snapped his fingers and the entire room was lit up by lights.

Ty and Abby stared at the person in front of them in absolute amazement. It was indeed Lance Boil but not the mutated, pimple headed Lance Boil. He looked more like Lance before the incident with the shrink ray. A clean cut, devilishly handsome man with a ponytail except this one didn't wear a smoke jacket but a black Kevlar west.

He cupped his mouth with one hand and called out. "It's alright, guys! Just another bizarre situation we have to deal with."

At that moment, two ropes dropped from the ceiling and two purple haired women with arthropod themed jumpsuits cascaded onto the floor.

Stepping out of a pipe further away, an eight feet tall, white haired man in a butler's uniform emerged, looking almost like a gorilla in a tuxedo.

Ty and Abby couldn't take their eyes of these people. All of them seemed familiar yet completely different from what they knew.

Lance Boil grinned at them. "Whoever you are, welcome to The Resistance."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Whoow, feels like it's been a while since I worked on this fanfic. I've been so occupied with school to even think about my fanfics and I think that's somewhat evident in the writing as well. I find that if you take too long of a break you're writing will seem a bit more disjointed and that's a particular problem in this specific story which has so many introductions and expositions.**

**In this chapter alone I introduced this universe's versions of Abigail Archer, Chester, Lance Boil, the Chitin sisters and Sloppy Joe. The others will get their explanations in the next chapter so I'll go over Abigail and Chester here. I think the main thing that characterises og Abby is her compassion. Not only does she show compassion towards her brother but also even towards people like Paige who she didn't really like. Given, she did take a certain amount of joy in Paige's suffering but she never did anything to deliberately hurt anyone and she did have her limits (I doubt she would enjoy seeing Paige cry .). So this version of Abigail is a narcissistic psychopath that loves to cause others pain. As an added twist, I decided to make her obsessed with Kid Root since Kid Rot was obsessed with her in canon. I'll reveal more about their chaired history in a later chapter.**

**As I've said before, the main problem I have writing this fanfic is to space out all the exposition so it doesn't kill the pacing or comes off as clunky and I feel I might have failed when it came to Kid Roots origin story but I didn't know where else to put it so I crammed it into this chapter. Oh well…**

**I thought that if og Chester was a good natured but awkward kid who gets possessed by something evil then the inverse of that would be a confident asshole who only becomes good after he goes thru something horrible. Gabber, the talking Venus flytrap is of course an inverse version of Kid Rot but since he's supposed to be good I can't really have him possess Chester (that would be evil) so instead he just gives Chester advice on what to do and let him make his own decisions.**

**As always I'd appreciate any feedback you guys can give me. What did you think worked and what didn't work with this chapter and how do you think the story is going so far?**

_**Until next time, Grossologists!**_


	4. Chapter 3

**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

"_This is the story of how I messed up our world but I suppose it's also the tragic tale of the Archer siblings. Abigail Archer and her younger brother Tyler Archer had a very unfortunate childhood. Their father was an insecure, cruel man. A disgraced scientist whose work was laughed at by his colleagues. Their mother was a spiteful, selfish woman. She would belittle their father for the smallest mistakes and he would take his anger out on their children. Their situation was not much better at school. They were labelled as freaks and ostracised. The siblings were prodigy children thou, both intellectually and athletically gifted. They kept these gifts hidden thou, probably afraid it would ostracise them even further. No one noticed…_

_But me. I came across them during one of my missions. I witnessed their talents in action first hand, afterwards I found out about their upbringing. Not only did I take them away from their toxic home but I also made them agents of the Bureau of Grossology. I hoped that learning the virtue of helping people would persuade them from going down the dark path they were headed in. what I didn't know was that I was leading them to another sort of darkness._

_LabRat used to be a hacker before I recruited him under the same pretences as with Tyler and Abigail but I did not know the grandeur of his twisted ambitions. He convinced the Archers to join his little cup and drove me into hiding. Using the bureau's resources, they built an army of H.E.R.M.E.S drones and put the whole town under martial law."_

* * *

"Wait, I have a question." Ty interrupted Lance Boil as he was retelling how their world became what it is.

"Ty, don't interrupt." Abby chastised him.

"What? I just wanted to know why the drones were named Hermes?"

"It's quite alright." Lance Boil reassured them. "H.E.R.M.E.S. stands for Highly Efficient Robot Made for Elimination and Surveillance. It's um, not a very clever acronym."

Ty rolled his eyes. "Must be the rat like things we fought earlier."

"But why haven't the government done anything about this?" Abby asked, still flabbergast at how things could have gotten this bad.

"They've tried but rumours of the GrossLords keeping nuclear weapons inside the city has made them vary." Lance replied.

"Are there any nukes?" The yellow clad Grossologist asked.

Lance shrugged. "Probably not. If there is, it's probably somewhere inside the Gagtower."

"That giant building in the middle of the city?" Ty asked.

"Yeah, it was constructed atop the old gaglab shortly after the GrossLords took over. From there they survey the entire city and it's there they conduct their most gruesome business. No one enters there without their permission and live to tell the tale."

* * *

_Inside the Gagtower, 40 minutes earlier._

It was inside a poorly lit laboratory where a pair of orange, gelatinous tendrils stretched after some test tubes. They brought them closer to their owner and poured their content into a beaker. The owner's lips stretched into a jagged toothed grin. "Now," he dipped a hypodermic needle into the beaker, sucking up some of the chemical concoction, "let's see how my new drug reacts with the human body." The scientist turned around to gaze at his test subject.

Strapped to an operation table at the middle of the room and wearing nothing but a pair of underwear, was a middle aged man. "Please, please don't inject that stuff into me. Please! I don't want to die!" The man pleaded as cold sweat ran down his skin.

The scientist approached the operation table. "Well, you see that's kind of the thing. I don't know what this will do to you. It might kill you. It might give you superpowers. It might just make your body odour smell like strawberries. That's how science work. You just have to step back and," the scientist stepped into view, "observe."

The scientist looked exactly like Ty Archer except from one thing. From neck to toe, he was covered in an orange, gelatinous, slimy suit which stretched and changed shape in places to form the tendrils. One of these tendrils wrapped itself around the man's bicep and squeezed hard. Tyler Archer punctured the skin with the hypodermic needle and injected the drug into the terrified man's bloodstream. He then stepped back and waited.

Suddenly, the man started screaming in agony. His neck arched and his hands fisted in pain. Had he not been strapped to the table his entire body would have been thrashing.

"Oh." Tyler cooed. He then grabbed an audio recorder and started speaking. "Test subject 737 seem to experience an extreme discomfort in reaction with the chemicals but this is of little concern."

The man kept on screaming and blood started running from his eyes and nostrils. The screams abruptly stopped and in the next minute, his entire body liquefied from the inside out. The only thing remaining of the man was a puddle of blood and gristle, some of it pooling onto the surrounding floor.

Tyler blinked but then grinned in delight. "Cool." He once again brought the audio recorder to his mouth. "Test subject 737 seem to have completely liquefied into_ 'in-lack-of-a-more-scientific-term' _a gory mess. The drug may have some military applications but I think it will be best utilized in cheap horror movies."

At that moment, a door behind him swooshes open and Abigail stepped into the room. Tyler turned and greeted her with a grin. "Welcome back, sis."

Abigail scoffed. "What kind of gunk is that?" She hissed, eyeing the blood and bodily fluids on the operation table.

"Oh, that would be test subject 737 or what's left of him." Tyler retorted before letting out a mocking sigh. "Worse thing about dead people, they never pick up after themselves." He gave his sister a playful smile. "So, based on that agitated attitude of yours, I suppose the Paige-hunt didn't go so well."

Abigail's sneer deepened. "She escaped my grasp but at least now we know she's working with the resistance."

"I'll owe you five bucks then."

"But I meet somebody even more intriguing out there. Two people who shouldn't exist." Abigail stated.

"So, that's what RatLab's summoned us for. To discuss the nature of this new foe of ours." Tyler rationalized.

"That and more." The redhead huffed. "I have to say, I'm getting really tired of all his secrecy."

The lights in room went out and the operation table was folded into the floor. Rows of screens folded out of the walls and lit up with blue light. A hologram was projected in front of the siblings. It was that of a young African-American, half his face hidden by a baggy, red hood.

"Good evening Abigail and Tyler Archer. It's time I reveal to you what I've been planning these last couple of months."

* * *

"I'm back you guys." Paige chirped as she entered the main hall. While Lance Boil took to task with explaining everything to Ty and Abby, she had left to find a private place where she could change. Now she returned wearing a pink slimesuit. The only thing separating it from Ty's & Abby's was that the G was located on its stomach rather than its chest.

Ty whistled when he saw her. "Wow Paige, you look great."

"Eep!" Paige squeaked at the sudden compliment and lowered her head to hide her blush.

"I knew it!" Abby exclaimed. "You are a Grossologist."

Paige tucked a hair lock behind her ear. "Not exactly."

"I scouted her for recruitment right before the Archer siblings turned on me." Lance Boil chimed in. "I only had time to outfit her with a slimesuit and a goopshooter before we had to leave the bureau." He walked over to the shy blond and placed a hand on her shoulder. "However, as soon as we've dealt with the GrossLords once and for all I'm going to officially make her a junior Grossologist. She's proven herself worthy many times over."

Paige looked up at her mentor and he shot her a sincere smile which caused her to smile as well.

Ty turned and gestured to the others in the hall. "What about these people, then? Who are they? I've never meet them but I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."

One of the violet haired women placed a hand on her chest. "Let me introduce us. I am Carly Chitin," she then gestured to the woman next to her, "and this is my sister Cara Chitin."

"Cara and Carly Chi-" Ty gasped when he realized who he was talking to. "You're Insectiva and Arachnidia!"

"Oh, so you already know our hero identities." Cara (Insectiva) stated.

"Goodie." Carly (Arachnidia) added.

Ty eyed the two women from head to toe. They didn't look anything like the maniacs he'd fought. They seemed to be in their late thirties or early forties yet appeared to have very athletic bodies. Both wore almost identical red and black jumpsuits with Insectiva having the silhouette of a bee on hers while Arachnidia had a spider's on hers. Arachnidia's hair was a darker shade of purple than her sister's and it was branded into a braid which resembled a scorpion tail while Insectiva's was shaped like the elytron of a beetle. Both also wore peculiar headbands with red lamps that resembled compound eyes.

"Um, you two are not obsessed with bugs to such a degree that you want to destroy humanity, are you?" Ty asked anxiously.

Arachnidia snorted. "Well, we both love bugs."

"But we wouldn't go that far." Insectiva finished.

Ty raised an eyebrow. "And you two don't hate don't hate each other and trying to kill one another?"

Insectiva gasped and hugged her sister tightly. "I would never harm my sister!"

"Me neither. She's my best friend." Arachnidia stated. "Sometimes we even finish each other's-

"Churros." Insectiva chirped.

"I was thinking sentences but that works to."

"Hey, I'm starting to like this new universe. It got nicer versions of Paige _and_ the Chitin sisters." Abby gladly stated as she approached the aforementioned sisters. "So, how did you two end up in Lance Boil's little resistance movement?"

"Like we said, we love bugs." Arachnidia replied.

"So, we became entomologists." Her sister continued.

"Later we started designing arthropod-inspired gadgets, like my sister's mechanical wings." Arachnidia hand gestured to her sister who made a little ballerina twirl, showing off her insect like wings which protruded from some sort of jetpack strapped to her shoulders.

"Or my sister's awesome web-shooters." Insectiva stated and Arachnidia showed them her wrist mounted gauntlet. She tapped a button on it and the device fired a string of silk which hit a nearby wall.

The tall man in the black and white suit let out a deep sigh. "Can you people not go one hour without making a mess?" He asked rhetorically while strolling up to the wall and dusted off the web with a feather duster.

"Cool down Joe. We were just showing of." Arachnidia retorted.

"Wait. Joe?" Ty asked baffled. "As in _Sloppy_ Joe?"

The tuxedo wearing man turned to the boy and huffed. "Young man, you will find that I am anything but _sloppy_." He adjusted his west. "People call me _Tidy Joe_. Once the owner of Joe's Cleaning Firm."

Ty studied the man from top to toe.

Even thou the man in front of them didn't resemble the _Joseph Puglowski _they knew, the Archer siblings could still tell it was the same man. Without the slime and grime, his skin was smooth and pink, his hair was white and well-kept and his teeth were blank and shiny. He wasn't even as fat as the Sloppy Joe they knew. A bit chubby, sure but he didn't have the enormous beer belly that Sloppy Joe had.

Along with a standard butler uniform he also carried some sort of contraption on his back. It seemed to be a vacuum cleaner with a lot of holster surrounding it, all stuffed with various bottles of cleaning fluids, mops and brooms.

'_Are those supposed to be his weapons?'_ Ty wondered. "Man, you look nothing like the Joe we remember."

"No? Well, tell me young whippersnapper, how do you remember me?" Tidy Joe asked in a pompous tone.

"Well, your skin was green cause of all the grime and slime you were covered in."

Tidy Joe's eyes dilated like he'd just been hit with a brick.

"And you had a dirty old t-shirt that didn't even cover your huge belly and your teeth were yellow and differently shaped. Also, you were obsessed with the most disgusting odours imaginable-

Before Ty could say anything else, Joe stuck a bar of soup into his mouth. "Young man, I suggest you clean that filthy mind of yours with soup and never think of me like that again. There's nothing more important in this world than good hygiene."

Ty spat out the bar of soup and started spiting and scraping his tong against his teeth to get the taste out.

"Now," Lance Boil approached the Archer siblings, crossing his arms over chest, "we have told you everything you need to know about us. Can you two please explain to us who you are and why you look nearly identical to the Archers?"

"It's complicated." Abby started, knowing she would have to explain everything herself since her brother was still trying to get the taste of soup out of his mouth. "We've concluded that my brother and I are the actual Ty and Abby Archer but that we're from a different dimension than this one."

Upon hearing that, the Resistance members all exchanged puzzled looks. Lance quirked an eyebrow. "You mean _Tyler_ and _Abigail Archer_? I've never heard the GrossLords being referred to as Ty and Abby."

"Well, those are our given names but everyone where we come from calls us by our nicknames." Abby explained.

"I guess that makes it easier to differentiate between you and them. Kind of." Kid Root muttered after having stayed silent until now.

"Anyway. Like you can tell, we were also made Grossologists," Abby continued, pointing to the symbol on her slimesuit, "but we never committed any coup. You did." She accusingly pointed at Lance Boil. "You tried to kill us and blame The Director for it but we stopped you and you've been a criminal ever since."

Lance let out a long m-sound. "My, my."

"For your latest scheme, you built a teleportation machine but it malfunctioned and we were sucked into it."

"Interesting." Lance said, clutching his chin. "I've never dabbled in teleportation technology before."

"Later, we woke up in this dimension and was confronted by an evil me and her goons but luckily a kinder, cuter and much more capable Paige Logan saved us and brought us here."

Paige's cheeks turned crimson at all that praise and she buried her face in her hands.

As Abby was finishing her story, something other than the soup had started to bother Ty. There was something about Abby's story that just didn't make sense but he could put his finger on it. Suddenly, realization struck him. "Wait a minute! I just thought of something."

Abby snapped her head at him. "What?"

"Boil's teleportation machine. The Wormhole Machine. He built it in _our_ world!"

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

"So how could there be a Wormhole Machine in this world too?"

The red haired Grossologist blinked. It was true. That same kind of machine had been in the building they woke up in after Boil's machine had its meltdown. "You're right, it was! But if Lance didn't build it, who did?"

"_I can answer that!" _A dark, growly voice echoed thru the room.

Everyone turned in their place, trying to spot the voice's over. Ty looked up and saw a couple of bats flying overhead.

Suddenly, what appeared to be a gigantic bat fell from the ceiling and landed in the middle of the room. In the light, Ty could tell it wasn't a bat but a person draped in black cowl.

The orange clad Grossologist blinked. "Are you Batman?"

The person in front of them turned to look at him, sporting a pair of red night vision goggles. "I get that a lot." He responded dryly.

"What have I told you about breaking and entering into our hideouts, Darko?" Lance sighed.

"Darko Crevasse!" Ty and Abby cried out in unison.

"You should improve your security." Darko stated as he stepped towards Lance Boil. "Thanks to an inside source, I have the information you're looking for regarding the GrossLords and," he eyed the Archer siblings for a second, "these dimension travellers." He reached inside his cloak and pulled out two computer discs. "A very brave person went thru a lot of trouble to secure these. It seems LabRat has been working on two projects. Both necessary for his ultimate goal. World domination."

Lance Boil grabbed the discs, studying them for a second. "You've helped us once again, Darko. Why don't you join us this time?"

Darko's lips formed a cheeky grin. "No thanks." He turned around and started walking. "If you guys fail, I'll be the one to stop them. If I fail, you people will pick up my slack." Darko started whistling. A flock of shrieking bats descended from the ceiling and started circling their master, shrouding his form. By the time they dispersed, Darko had vanished without a trace.

Kid Root scoffed. "You know, for being so secretive, he sure is a giant show-off."

Abby blinked. "Who-who was that?"

"He was who you said it was. Darko Crevasse." Paige spoke up.

"But he was so much cooler and mysterious than I remember. Like, who or what is he?"

"He's a freedom fighter like the rest of us." Insectiva explained.

"But he prefers to work alone." Arachnidia filled in.

"Still, he has helped us in many situations." Insectiva finished.

"Don't argue. Let's just be grateful for what he's given us." Lance Boil spoke up as he inserted one of the CDs into his supercomputer. Schematics of a peculiar looking satellite popped up on screen. Lance let out a thoughtful hum. "Seems like LabRat's first project is some sort of weaponized satellite. He calls it…"

* * *

"The _Solar Magnet_." LabRat explained to the Archer siblings.

"So, it's a solar powered satellite?" Tyler shrugged and grinned mockingly. "I didn't know you were so concerned about going green, boss."

The hologram smirked. "On the contrary, Tyler. Once this satellite is in orbit, there won't be anything green to be concerned about." The hologram of the young man switched into a simulation, showing an animation of the earth and the sun with the satellite in-between them. "The sun is made out of hot plasma. From time to time, this plasma escapes in waves due to nuclear reactions in the sun's core and magnetic disruptions at its outer atmosphere, the _corona_ as it's called. These waves are called Coronal Mass Ejections or CME for short. My satellite will magnetize these plasma waves and send them hurdling towards earth." The simulation showed a stream of plasma being lead from the sun, bypassing the satellite and ending at earth.

It then showed a cow, grassing at a field with a farmer and some trees in the background. In a red flash, the trees and the grass was turned to ash and the farmer and his cow turned into burnt corpses.

"The CME will ignite earth's biomass, making the outdoors uninhabitable for thousands of years."

* * *

The Resistance memebers and the Archer siblings all collectively gasped after having witnessed the exact same simulation on their computer. Their jaws dropping in total shock.

"He can't, he wouldn't. No one would do something like that!" Abby stammered in disbelief.

Lance Boil sighed and tipped his head. "No, no he would. LabRat has always hated his agoraphobia. Forcing the rest of humanity to live indoors just like him is perfectly within his character."

"That devious recluse as gone too far this time." Paige angrily exclaimed, palming her fist.

"This makes no sense." Kid Root groaned while pinching his nose bridge. "Not even LabRat can survive without the resources from the outside world. Food, water, oxygen. Not to mention the fuel sources to power his machines. How can he hope to survive without all that?"

"True. If he's anything like our LabRat he'll be consuming like, five bags of chips a week and more cans of energy drink than I can count." Ty stated half-jokingly.

"He seems to have a plan for that as well." Lance Boil stated.

* * *

"I have constructed about a thousand underground facilities all around the globe with self-sufficient farms, water factories and recycling plants. More than enough to sustain the hosting population for thousands of years." LabRat explained.

"When did you have time to build this?" Tyler asked sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't ask!" LabRat hissed.

"Still, there's no way you can host all seven billion people on the planet underground." Abigail pointed out, tapping her chin.

"Correct. I estimate I'll be able to sustain around one point five billion people in these facilities. The majority of people will die but I think it will be to our benefit." LabRat explained dispassionately. "A smaller population will be so much more manageable."

"That's what I like about you, boss." Tyler giggled. "You'll make even the most evil scheme seem totally rational."

"Okay, okay but what does all this have to do with the doppelgangers I encountered earlier?" Abigail asked impatiently.

"That's where the second project comes in."

* * *

"The second project is called the Wormhole-machine." Lance Boil stated.

"That's it!" Ty proclaimed and pointed at the screen, now displayed blueprints of the aforementioned machine. "That's the teleportation device Lance Boil built back in our world."

"Yes but unlike your world's Lance Boil, LabRat seems the actually know what this thing is intended for." The ponytailed man stated. "Opening a portal to another world and he seems to even have done some research into your universe." He gave a short over-the-shoulder glance at the Archer siblings who in turn exchanged curious looks. He resumed reading the files on screen. "According to this the only notable difference between your world and ours is…"

* * *

"…the personalities of the inhabitants are all the reverse of what they are in our world. The reason for this still escapes me." LabRat explained, his hologram back to his avatar image. "Anyway, considering what massive scumbags you two are these newcomers must be all about that freedom and justice nonsense."

"Then this is bad. You brought an entire new enemy to us." Abigail accused, gritting her teeth in anger.

Tyler smirked and scoffed. "And you let them escape."

"I don't let anyone do anything unless it's licking my boot!" The redhead shouted at her brother.

"On the contrary." LabRat smirked sinisterly. "They may have given us the key to finally rid ourselves of Lance and his pesky resistance."

* * *

Lance Boil brooded. "To what end LabRat created this technology is not included in these files but apparently it all hinged on one single piece of engineering." Another blueprint popped up on screen. "The Photon Receiver."

Ty blinked. "Wait a second!" He took off his backpack and opened it up, taking out the cylindrical device. Everyone gasped when he held it up for them to see. "I took this one out of the Wormhole we found in this world."

"Tyler-I mean Ty, that's amazing." Paige cheered.

"Paige's right. Without that do-hickey…" Insectiva started.

"LabRat won't be able to enter your dimension." Arachnidia finished the sentence.

The spikey haired teenager smiled as he soaked up the praise. "I really just took it in case the Wormhole had another meltdown."

"Forward thinking. It's a hallmark of a true Grossologists." Lance Boil stated with an honest smile.

"Never thought I'd get praised by Lance Boil of all people."

Lance nodded before turning back to look at the computer. "There is one more thing mentioned here. Apparently, there's a second significant difference between your universe and ours. The frequency of cosmic radiation."

"What does that mean?" Abby asked.

"Radiation is all around us." Lance replied. "The Earth is radioactive, the sun is radioactive, the atmosphere and the cosmos is atmosphere."

Gabber popped out of Chester's shoulder. "Isn't that dangerous."

"Only in large doses." Chester explained.

"The point is that the radiation peaks and dips at a different frequency in your world than in ours. To put it simply, it's different." Lance abruptly rose up and turned to look at the Archer siblings. His stern stare caused the duo to shrink into themselves a bit. "Meaning that right now, you two and that device you're holding are like practical homing beacons."

At that moment, a shaft in the ceiling opened and a small, mechanic ball fell out. As soon as it made contact with the ground it spewed out a thick brown fog.

"Knock-out gas!" Lance Boil exclaimed. "Quick, get the gasmasks!"

"I got it!" Kid Root shouted as he ejected a long vine from his wrists which quickly swiped some gasmasks hanging off a wall and tossed them to his teammates. With two gasmasks remaining he turned to the Archer siblings. "Ty, Abby, here-uh?" To his surprise, the two already had gasmasks on.

"It's okay, Chester. We always bring our gasmasks just in case." Abby reassured him.

"Forward thinking." Ty exclaimed cheerfully.

Suddenly, the wall behind them exploded. The first thing the Resistance saw was a red eye glowing thru the residual smoke. As it cleared, they witnessed The Enforcer stepping thru the shattered wall along with a squad of H.E.R.M.E.S drones. The burly cyborg scowled furiously. "Hand over the Photon Receiver and there won't be any problems and with problems I mean nobody will have get their insides torn out."

Lance Boil narrowed his eyes. "Damn, they've already found us." He pulled out a pair of handles and squeezed their triggers, ejecting a pair of green _Sticky-Whips_. "I'll hold him back. The rest of you, get to the back exit!"

His teammates did as he ordered and ran to the other end of the hall. At first, the Archer siblings were confused since there didn't seem to be a door but Tidy Joe put his meaty hands on the wall and pulled it aside, revealing a hidden passage. Most of the Resistance members ran thru but not all.

"What about you. Are you not coming with us?" Paige asked her mentor with evident worry.

"Sorry, I can't." Lance replied, steadying his weapon. "These computers contain information on everyone who's helped us over the years. I can't let the GrossLords have that information."

Paige's eyes dilated. "Don't be stupid! We need you!" Her voice was cracking out of desperation.

Lance turned to his recruit and gave her an honest smile. "Silly girl. You don't need me, I've already thought you everything I know."

Paige gasped, her eyes watering.

"Paige!" Chester shouted as he reached out with a pair of vines that curled around his reluctant teammate and pulled her thru the back exit.

Lance Boil saw the recruit he'd been training and protecting for years one last time before turning to face the oncoming cyborg. "So, you want to tangle, tin-man?"

A vein above The Enforcer's brow twitched as he bared his teeth in fury.

* * *

The rest of the Resistance continued running thru a tunnel system as fast as their legs could carry them. It was obviously an old sever system that's been dried up and abandoned for ages. An upset Kid Root ran at the front with Abby flanking him. "We should never have brought those two down here!" He exclaimed loudly even thou Abby was right next to him.

Gabber popped out of his shoulder again. "Chester, think of what you're saying."

"No, I'm pissed and I'm gonna complain. I should have listened to my first instinct and just leave them to-

Before he could finish his sentence, Abby tackled him to the ground just an acidic bullet speeded above their heads, incinerating a wall behind them.

"Abby, you alright?" Ty asked as he and the others stopped in their tracks.

Abby and Kid Root rose onto their knees. "Yeah, we're fine."

"Lucky me. I am so happy we could meet each other so soon again, my love." They heard the sinister female voice before witnessing Abigail stepping out of the shadows ahead of them. While she did have her acid riffle with her, she also carried some kind of tank on her back. "So, are you gonna stand up or are you gonna propose to me, sweetheart?"

Kid Root and Abby got onto their feet. The female Grossologist quirked an eyebrow. "Propose? If you want him to marry you maybe you shouldn't try to incinerate his head."

"No worries, I've done far worse to him but he always regenerates. I so love a resilient man." Abigail replied. "By the way, I know who you are now, _Abigail Archer_. You and I are the same except I'm not weakened by things like _compassion_." She spat out that word like it was poison. "That alone makes me want to kill you. Besides, as the hottest girl in town I really don't want any competition." The female GrossLord grabbed a hose that was attached to the tank on her back, aimed it at her double and fired an entire stream of acid.

Thinking quickly, Kid Root stepped in front of Abby, brought his arms up to protect his face right before the acid blasted him. His groans of pain turned into guttural screams.

"Chester, you okay?" Abby asked worried.

"My arms. They hurt." Kid Root groaned in pain. The wooden endoskeleton was the only thing that remained of his arms, everything else, the weed and algae that had been his skin, the roots that had acted as tendons had been stripped clean by the acid.

Abigail smirked. "Oh, I love when a man acts heroic like that."

Paige went up to her injured teammate. After looking at his damaged arms she glared at the one responsible. "Abigail, you witch! I've wanted to kick your ass for so long now-

"No!" Kid Root yelled loudly enough to make his teammates frees up. "Do you see those H.E.R.M.E.S drones behind her? They knew we were coming this direction, meaning even if we defeat her here, she'll have back up waiting for us at the surface."

"So, what do we do?" Ty asked confused.

"There's a second exit. I'll lead you there." Tidy Joe exclaimed.

This got Abigail to peak up. "A second exit?"

Seeing that look on her face rattled Kid Root. He spun around and threw some seed capsules at the ground in front of his teammates and they immediately grew into huge vines, blocking off that part of the tunnel.

"Kid Root!" Paige shouted.

"Chester!" Abby shouted.

Arachnidia bypassed her teammates and tried to rip apart some of the vines. "Come on, Kid. This is no time to play hero."

"No, run away!" The mutated teen shouted from behind the foliage. "If we turn our backs now, Abigail will hunt us down. Our best chance is if you guys run to the other exit while I keep her occupied. I am the only one that can keep this lunatic distracted."

As if to prove his point, Abigail licked her lips.

"But Chester…" Paige tried to argue.

"Go!" Kid Root cried out.

"Right." Tidy Joe turned on his heels and started running. "Everyone, follow me." Reluctantly, the others followed him, leaving the vines that separated them from their teammate.

Meanwhile, Kid Root faced off against Abigail when Gabber popped out of his shoulder again. "Chester, I'm proud of you. You're acting like a true hero."

The mutant boy couldn't help himself from smiling at the praise.

"While I would love to tumble with you darling, I think we'll save it for the bedroom. I'll simple let my toys handle you." Abigail mused before snapping her fingers and a squad of drones raced past her, zeroing in on their target.

Kid Root let out a fierce battle cry before lashing out with four vines growing out of his back like tendrils. They wrapped up the oncoming drones and smashed them against the walls. Two more drones came at him and he produced a tree branch from his chest that pierced the both of them at once.

As the drones kept the Resistance member busy, Abigail brought up her Grossometer and called someone. "Tyler, I just got to know there's a secondary exit."

"_No worries. I've already found it." _A sinister voice answered her.

Chester grit his teeth as he took a hold of the branch and ripped it off his chest. He knew he had to do it, it would negate his movement otherwise but it still hurt like hell. He let out a loud cry of pain.

* * *

Abby heard the pained creamed of the mutant boy as she ran at the rear of the group heading for the second exit. "Are you Resistance guys really okay with just leaving your guys behind like that?"

Paige lowered her head in guilt and sorrow.

Tidy Joe forced himself to smile to reassure the rest. "No worries. The lake exit isn't far from here. As soon as Lance and Kid are done with what they have to do, they'll join us." His smile faded. _'At least that's what I keep telling myself. Out of all of us, those two are the ones that push themselves the furthest in these kinds of situations. For their sake, I hope their common sense outweighs their courage.'_

The giant man crossed a corner and ran down a tunnel that slanted slightly downwards. "Down here!" Tidy Joe called out to the others who followed his lead. "Listen up, this tunnel leads down to a water reservoir that is connected to the lake."

"I see. In case of flooding." Ty commented.

"Precisely. We have a motorised dory anchored by the lake." Tidy Joe explained.

"Um, a dory?" Ty sounded puzzled.

"A boat, Ty." His sister clarified for him.

After some more running, the water reservoir finally came into view for Tidy Joe but when it did, he gasped in shock and stopped in his tracks so quickly that the Chitin sisters bumped into him. "Joe, why did you-

Insectiva didn't finish her sentence as the sight before her answered her question. The water reservoir, this huge empty chamber was covered from wall to ceiling in orange slime.

"Oh, no." Paige shivered. "They already figured out we were coming this way.."

Suddenly, a maniacal laughter echoed thru the chamber, growing lauder and lauder by the second. "This time you've done it. You're misguided heroics have lead you down a path of ruin. Don't blame me for what's to happen. I'll simple be the instrument to your destruction." As the voice kept musing and cackling, a human body emerged from slime in the ceiling. It then fell off and landed on the floor with a splash. The person rose up, at first appearing featureless but once more orange slime left his face, his identity was revealed.

It was Tyler Archer. He got into a fighting stance, tendrils growing out his back and his hands extending into long, sharp talons.

While the Resistance members merely scowled at him, Ty and Abby stared at the figure in front of them. Ty especially seemed to be in a state of shock. Save for the gelatinous body armour, this teenager was the spitting image of himself, although his spikey hair was a tad longer and his goggles were red instead of green. "Who-who's that?" Ty stammered.

"That would be you in this universe." Tidy Joe replied, not taking his eyes off the enemy in front of them.

The gelatinous GrossLord tilted his head and eyed his doppelganger. "So, you're my inter-dimensional twin?" He clutched his chin as he examined him from head to toe. "The slimesuit's a bit old fashion and the hair is a bit short for my taste but otherwise I like your look. I hope I can capture you without too much damage."

"How uncharacteristically merciful of you." Paige snarled.

"Nothing merciful about it." Tyler mused. "I am always looking for new test subjects and having one with identical DNA as mine, well, that would be most useful when I look for my next upgrade. Now, hand over the Photon Receiver. My boss really wants it back and he tends to get what he wants."

Insectiva turned to Tidy Joe. "What are we gonna do now, Joe?"

"If they were waiting for us here as well maybe this exit is being guarded as well." Arachnidia chimed in.

Tidy Joe narrowed his eyes as he assessed the situation. "No, the fact that Tyler is alone tells me he just recently got here. He's probably only here because of my big mouth. I was an imbecile for voicing our objective in front of an enemy. Besides, I don't think we got a choice anymore. We _have to_ get thru here."

"In that case," Arachnidia said and stepped past her larger teammate.

Her sister did the same, "let's stomp this creep and get going."

"Insectiva, wait!" Tidy Joe cried out but it was too late as the entomologist's mechanical wings started buzzing and she flew towards the GrossLord while Arachnidia fired a string of silk that attached to ceiling and swung at Tyler. The two sisters were neck-in-neck with each other as they headed for their target.

Tyler grinned a toothy grin. He held up two fingers before flicking them down. Two sheets of orange slime fell from the ceiling and the two sisters flew right into them.

"Darn it, I'm stuck!" Arachnidia snarled in annoyance.

"I can't move either." Insectiva stated, her wings buzzing pathetically.

"Don't worry, sis. I'll get you out once I-

Tyler flicked his fingers again and the sheets of slime returned to the ceiling, taking their captives with them. The others stared in bewilderment at how easy this sixteen year old boy had taken out two of their agents.

Tyler cackled. "My mom always said you catch more flies with honey but I always thought slime mould work just as good."

Ty blinked. "Did you say _slime mould_?"

"Less chatting, more shooting." Abby exclaimed as she and Paige simultaneously drew their goopshooters and fired at the GrossLord.

Tyler lashed out with his tendrils, catching most of the projectile goo but two of them went past his defences. One hitting him in the chest and the other hitting his right foot. The green slime crystalized, plastering the limb to the floor. Tyler looked down and blinked. "Well, will you look at that?" The crystalized goo shattered as he ripped off his own foot. "Who would have thought gentle Paige and my sister's interdimensional twin would be such an effective combo." Tyler commented while his slime mould armour regenerated his foot. "Still, no match for me though."

Paige and Abby gave almost identical scowls before rushing towards Tyler. Tyler flicked his fingers again and two sheets of slime fell down but the two girls immediately ran around them, incidentally widening the space between them.

Tyler latched out at the incoming attackers with four slimy tendrils. Paige ducked under the first one that came at her before jumping backwards to avoid the second one. Abby meanwhile, ducked the first tendril that tried to grab her. She then jumped over the second one and spring-boarded against the wall, jettisoning herself towards Tyler.

The GrossLord's hand reshaped itself into an axe and he swung it the moment the redhead landed in front of him. In the last second, Abby managed to _limbo_ right underneath the sweeping weapon. Straightening herself, she punched him so hard in the face he staggered backwards.

It looked so painful, even Ty covered his face.

Before Tyler could recuperate, Abby once again closed the distance between them, first punching his jaw before kicking him in the abdomen. The GrossLord staggered backwards but manged to keep his balance.

"You retch!" Tyler snarled. Abby charged towards him again but two of his tendrils came at her from both sides, catching her arms and lifting her off the ground. She tried to twist herself out of the gelatinous binds but the tendrils only squeezed her harder. Tyler scowled at her. "I heard you were supposed to be nobler than my sister but in terms of ferocity you two are equals."

In the corner of his eye he suddenly noticed Paige coming at him. Reacting fast, he transformed his hand into a sword and swiped it at the blonde girl but she managed to leap out of its reach and aimed her Goopshooter at the GrossLord.

"Get your slime off her you slime-ball." Paige threatened.

Tyler smirked. "If you insist." He raised Abby even higher and threw her across the chamber.

"No worries. I got her." Tidy Joe said as he raised his arms and caught the girl as she past overhead. "There we go." He placed her down on her buttocks before looking at his slime covered hands. With a disgruntle expression, he fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and started cleaning his hands.

Ty looked down at his sister as she tried to get all the orange goo off her. "You okay, Abby?"

"What do you think? I'm covered in goo from someone who's basically you."

"So disgusted but unharmed, got it." Ty gave her a thumbs up before turning to their ally. "Joe, is it true that all this is slime mould?"

"Yes." Tidy Joe's expression turned melancholic as he watched Paige continuously avoiding Tyler's tendrils while firing her goopshooter. "There's a real sad and macabre story behind that slimy armour of his."

Of course, Ty was somewhat curious as to how his other self had managed to obtain an armour made out of slime mould but right now time was of the essence. "Joe, your gimmick is cleaning products, right? Soups, floor mops, that sort of things."

"Correct. My entire arsenal are modified cleaning products I used at my old firm."

The situation had Ty reminiscing on their mission a few months ago and their first encounter with Salvador Slime Man. That had given him an idea. "Say Joe, do you have any bleach on you?"

* * *

Kid Root was gritting his teeth. He was exhausted. His left fist was trapped in the claws of an H.E.R.M.E.S drone while his right foot was pinning the robot's head against the floor. Around him was the scattered remains of the dozens of drones he'd already destroyed as well as the vegetation he used to deal with them. The mutated teenager let out a tired battle cry and a tree branch ejected out of his entrapped fist which pierced right thru the drone's mechanical tail, growing side branches that ripped it asunder. He then lifted his foot and ejected a tree branch out of his heel that crushed the drone's head.

He panted heavily, getting more and more exhausted with every move he made. _'I'm exhausted. There's barely any air down here and no sunlight to replenish my energy.' _He noticed that the tissue on his arms had regrown. _'At least my earlier injuries has healed.' _With that in mind, he confidently faced the female GrossLord. "Alright. Come at me already. I have real friends to get back to."

Abigail placed a hand over her heart and pretended to swoon. "Oh that never ending resilience. It only makes me want you more, my darling."

"I show you resilience!" A pair of vines ejected from his shoulders and latched out at his stalker. Abigail chuckled in amused before acrobatically jumping out of way for the incoming vines. They came at her again and again she jumped thru them, like a nail threading a needle. She then stuck her hand into her belt pocket and pulled out a pair of knuckle-dusters with claws on them. Kid Root latched out at Abigail again but she side stepped and clawed the vines into shreds.

"Foreplay's over, my darling. Time for the main event." She pulled out a peculiar looking grenade and tossed it. It landed right in front of Kid Root and let out a cloud of yellow gas.

Kid Root started feeling dizzy but he shook his head, trying to regain his composure. He raised his arm and tried to produce another vine but that was when he noticed that his arm had started turning grey. In horror, he stared at his arm as the grey colours spread up his limbs and onto his chest. He felt a bang of pain within his chest and he started losing all feelings in his arms. He fell onto his knees, hands pressed to his aching chest before he fell on his side. He curled up into fetal position and shivered. "Wha-what is this?"

Abigail smirked delightfully and she strolled over to him. "With your interest in botany, you should like this little history lesson. In 1840, one fourth of the population of Ireland died from famine, a famine caused by a fungus that wiped out their potato crops."

Kid Root's eyes widen as he realized what he's been exposed to. "Pythophthora infesta."

"Also known as potato blight. I spent months bio-engineering it in order to bring you down, my stallion." She crouched down and gently brushed the leaves atop of his head. "No worries, you won't die but I think you realize by now that you are not leaving here with your friends."

* * *

"Give it up, Lance. You know you're cornered like a wounded animal. Just hand over the Photon Receiver and the GrossLords will show mercy to your little band of traitors." The Enforcer exclaimed.

Lance was busy avoiding attacks from the Hermes drones. One came at him, snapping its stingers at him but he jumped backwards and latched out with his sticky-whips. The whips strangled the drone's tail and Lance threw the entire robot over his shoulder, slamming it into another Hermes drone, reducing them both to scrap metal. "Cram your empty promises up your exhaust port, you half-bastard."

The cyborg spat on the floor. "Well, if you won't tell me," he walked up to the computer, "then maybe your fancy-ass computer can give me the answers." The Enforcer's hand transformed into some sort of spike and he jammed it into a socket in the computer's hard-drive. Photos and files flashed across the computer screen one after another as the cyborg downloaded their content.

'_Crap! I forgot my surroundings and left the computer wide open. I guess it can't be helped then.'_ Lance scolded himself before leaping at one of the drones. The robot thrusted its pinchers at him but the former Grossologist sidestepped it and delivered a powerful kick to its flank, sending the drone rolling across the floor.

Lance then crouched down and grabbed a handle that was attached to the floor. He pulled at it, opening up a secret hatchet, hiding a machine with red glass button. _'I pray the others has already made it out of here.' _Lance thought before slamming his fist onto the button.

_*BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* __*BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ*_

Immediately, a series of red lamps all over the room started blinking and the buzzing of alarm bells echoed thru the underground facility.

* * *

Tyler hissed in pain as he stumbled backwards. "That mucking hurt you clean-freak!" The GrossLord latched out with two of his gelatinous tendrils but Tidy Joe sprayed them with bleach from a couple of bottles he wielded. The tendrils squirmed as the bleach corroded them and Tyler winched in pain.

Seeing his chance, the albino rushed towards the teenager and punched him square in the face, sending him into a wall. The Resistance member glared down at the battered evildoer. "Stay put boy. Don't make me bleach you again."

While Tidy Joe kept Tyler at bay, the younger members of the group were busy freeing the Chitin sisters from the slime in the ceiling. "Thank you, girls." Insectiva thanked once Paige and Abby had together hauled her down onto the floor.

Ty meanwhile was trying to be careful as he pulled Arachnidia out of the orange goo. "Easy, easy…" The middle aged woman suddenly slipped free of the slime and landed right on top of the spikey haired boy who hit the floor, her breasts squishing against his face.

Arachnidia giggled as she rose onto her hands and knees. "Whoops, hope I didn't hurt you, lad." She got onto her feet.

Ty blushed but sat up and waved her off, trying to look cool. "Nah, helping ladies out of sticky situations is my favourite part of being a hero."

That was when they heard the alarms.

_*BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* __*BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ*_

While the Archer siblings looked around with confusion, the eyes of the Resistance members dilated in horror.

"What is that noise?" Abby asked.

"No, it couldn't be." Insectiva shook her head in desperate disbelief. "That's the alarm to-

"The HQ's self-destruct sequence." Arachnidia finished her sister's sentence.

"Self-destruct?" Paige almost whispered to herself before gasping. "Lance!" Without a second to spare, Paige rushed back the way they came.

"Paige, wait! We have to stay together!" Tidy Joe called out to her but she was already gone.

"I'll get her back." Abby said before rushing after the pink clad Resistance member.

With their attention directed elsewhere, Tyler took the opportunity to launch a gelatinous tendril from his hand towards the ceiling and jettisoned himself off the floor. Tidy Joe noticed in the last second and tried spray some bleach at him but Tyler was too fast.

The slimy GrossLord now hanged from the ceiling, looking down on his enemies. "Sorry but if this place is gonna go boom-boom then I have to say bye-bye. If you all survive this I look forward to meeting you again." He then gleamed at Ty. "Especially you, my inter-dimensional brother." Tyler then started swinging like a gibbon, one tendril at a time, across the ceiling until he disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

After having activated the self-destruct sequence, Lance Boil darted for the back door but stopped in his tracks when a pair of H.E.R.M.E.S drones swooped in to block the exit. He turned around to face The Enforcer. "Ted, unless we get out of here right now, we'll _both_ die."

"Half of me is already dead. I'm happy to go down in flames as long as you burn with me." The cyborg stated.

"_Enforcer, have you obtained the Photon Receiver yet?" _The voice of LabRat barked over The Enforcer's inter-com (a radio built into his head).

The Enforcer was surprise to hear from his superior but wasted no time answering. "Um, not yet sir."

"_Then where is it?" _The voice over his inter-com sounded increasingly annoyed.

The Cyborg grunted. "My scanners indicate that is isn't in this room. It's moving away from me as we speak."

"_Go get it then!"_

"Maybe the Archers can take care of it. I'm busy killing the Resistance's big honcho here." The Enforcer growled, grinding his teeth.

"_No, take him hostage. If those two maniacs fail we can use him to get back the Photon Receiver. It's of utmost importance."_

The cyborg got furious. "You're out of your god damn mind if you think I'll let this bastard live after what he's done to me!"

"_I'm not out of my mind, I am inside yours. Let me give you a reminder." _LabRat hissed.

The Enforcer suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his head. It felt like something was trying drill its way out of his brain. Red sparks of electricity spat out of the mechanical half of his skull. "Please stop!" The cyborg cried out. "I get it! I do as you say, sir!" The pain finally stopped and The Enforcer sighed in relief.

"That seemed to have hurt a lot." Lance Boil spoke in a regretful tone. "It saddens me that your superiors doesn't seem to value your wellbeing."

The Enforcer grit his teeth as he growled at his opponent. His mechanical hand once again transformed into a lightning rod and he fired at the Resistance leader. Lance jumped out of the way of the incoming blast and landed a bit closer to his opponent. He latched out with his Sticky Whips which wrapped around the cyborg's mechanical arm. Lance then jumped back till his whips went tot and he twisted his body, yanking the whips over his shoulder. There was a crackling sound and then, The Enforcer's arm was ripped off and slammed onto the floor.

"I don't want to hurt a cripple but you give me no choice." The Resistance leader exclaimed.

The cyborg gave no verbal response. Instead, he simple smirked.

Suddenly, the lightning rod at the end of the severed arm ignited with electricity. The electricity travelled up Lance Boil's whips and electrocuted the Resistance leader. Lance screamed in pain for a five seconds before collapsing onto the floor. He was still conscious, still aware of his surroundings. He tried to move but couldn't feel his body, he was completely paralyzed.

The Enforcer chuckled. "As long as my bits are hooked up to my brain, they don't need to be hooked up to the rest of me. Bet you wouldn't have acted so high and mighty if you'd known that." The cyborg walked over to the paralyzed man and hauled him onto his shoulder.

Suddenly, a flash of green rushed by The Enforcer's head and hit the wall in front of him. He turned around and saw Paige by the backdoor exit, her goopshooter drawn and her lips scowling.

"Let go of him, you rust-bucket!" She yelled before firing off another barrage of goo.

The cyborg managed to dodge the slimy projectiles and started moving towards the tear in the wall earlier he'd blown up earlier. "Hermes-drones, get her! Keep her down here and let Lane Boil's bomb kill her off for us" He ordered and the rat-like drones went into action.

As The Enforcer started heading out of the room, Lance Boil, paralyzed but still able to see, witnessed Paige bravely fight off the Hermes drones while he was getting further and further away from her, unable to do anything but watch and pray. _'Paige, please get out of here. You have to keep on living. I've failed you in so many ways but you always made me proud. You're the best Grossologist I've ever trained. Your optimism and resolve was the one thing that brought me happiness in these troubled times. Please Paige, survive.'_

Paige fired at an incoming drone, peppering its wheels to the floor before kicking its head in. She was about to run ahead but one drone blindsided her, latching at her with its tail-claw. Paige couldn't react quickly enough but someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the way before the tail-claw could snatch her. The blonde girl turned to see who had just saved her. "Abby? What are you doing?"

The redhead stepped in front of blonde and fired her goopshooter at an attacking drone, clogging up its tail-claw and pasting its wheels to the floor. "We need to get out of here."

"What?" Paige couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We can't leave Lance behind!"

Abby kept firing at the hoard of Hermes-drones coming at them. "Lance created his opportunity so we could escape."

"Bu-but…" Paige tried to argue but Abby cut her off by immediately grabbing her shoulders and locking eyes with her.

"You want to die here or do you want to live to save him later?"

Paige realized the she was right. There was no way they could get past the Hermes drones and get to Lance before the self-destruct sequence went off. "Alright, let's move." She grabbed Abby's wrist and rushed out thru the backdoor.

As they exited the room, still perused by the drones, Abby stopped for a second to aim her goopshooter at the exit, held in the trigger for a moment and fired. The huge mass of slime that was squeezed completely clogged the exit out of the HQ, trapping the Hermes-drones inside. She then rushed to keep up with her blonde ally.

"Saw what you did there. You're clever." Paige complimented.

"Thank you." Abby said as they kept on running thru the tunnel.

* * *

Abigail looked around in confusion as she continued to hear the alarm signals. "I have a bad feeling about this." She felt her Grossometer vibrate in her pocket so she fished it out and opened it on cell-phone mode.

"_Sis, we gotta jet. They've activated some sort of self-destruct process. This whole place is about to go up in smokes." _Tyler exclaimed over the com-device.

Abigail didn't need to hear or say anything more. She pocketed her grossometer and leaned down to pick up the comatosed Kid Root by the armpits. "Have to admit. Didn't think your little entourage would have the balls to blow up their own base." The red-haired GrossLord stated as she hauled the unconscious boy onto one of the still operational Hermes drones. She and the remaining drones then started heading out of the tunnel at a brisk pace, taking Kid Root with them.

* * *

Abby and Paige had manged to run thru the tunnel system and ended up where the drained pipe ended, by a large lake surrounded by forest. Ty and the remaining Resistance members were already in the motorboat, waiting for them a few meters away.

As they rushed out, Abby and Paige simultaneously leaped towards the boat. Ty caught Paige in his arms and placed her safely in the boat while Tidy Joe did the same for Abby.

Paige frantically looked around with a worried expression. "Where's Chester?"

Before anyone could answer, a thunderous boom silenced all other sound. It was then followed by the sound of even more explosions. The ground a few clicks away erupted and a mushroom cloud ascended into the sky. Tidy Joe turned on the boat's motor and it carried them away but the shockwaves caused tidal waves to spread out over the lake. The waves rocked the boat violently. Arachnidia and Insectiva tripped over one another while Abby almost fell overboard but Ty caught her and pulled her back to safety. The waves quickly past and the water became calm.

The Chitin sisters rose up, somewhat dazed from their fall. "Nice driving, Joe. Did you get your sea legs on the Titanic or something?" Arachnidia sarcastically chided.

Tidy Joe huffed and was about to reply when Paige grabbed him by his west, forcing him to look at her. "Where's Chester?" The pink clad Resistance member asked with evident frustration.

The albino solemnly lowered his head. "We haven't seen him. We've tried to contact him but…"

Paige gasped and rushed to the rear. She stared out at the lake and surrounding shoreline they've left behind. She was hoping for a miracle, that her mutant friend would walk out of the draining pipe any minute or that he would surface out of the water and swim to them. Anxiety only rose as she started to realize that he wouldn't come. He was gone just like Lance was.

Abby placed a hand on Paige's shoulder, hoping to comfort her. "Paige, I'm sorry."

Before anyone could react, Paige had spun around and punched Abby straight in the face, knocking the yellow clad Grossologist onto her back. The blonde then pounced on her, digging her knee into the girl's stomach while clawing at her shoulders. "This is all your fault!" Paige shouted, tears welling out of her eyes. "If you two hadn't showed up, they wouldn't have found us and Chester and Lance would still be with us!"

Insectiva made her way to the outraged girl. "Paige, that's enough!" The entomologist grabbed the blond teen and pulled her off the redhead. She then made sure she locked eyes with her. "I know you're hurting but you can't take it out on our new allies. Surely you must understand that it wasn't their fault," She paused for a moment, "and it wasn't your fault for bringing them in. You did the right thing by helping them. I know Lance would tell you that."

Paige hesitated for a moment but then wrapped her arms around her older woman and cried into her chest. Insectiva returned the hug, trying to comfort her teammate.

Abby saw the solemn, broken faces of the Resistance members and regardless of what Insectiva had said, Abby knew all of this was _indeed_ their fault. So much misery they've caused all these good people by being in this world they weren't even meant to be in.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I had essentially two big problems to solve when it came to writing this chapter. The first was how I could make the first half interesting despite all the dialogue. I decided to do something I've never done before, cut back & forth between two parallel scenes with characters discussing the same topic. Just another reminder that the scenes inside the Gagtower takes place 30 minutes before the scenes inside the Resistance HQ, giving the villains enough time to track down and get to the Resistance HQ. Personally, I think it worked pretty well but feel free to tell me if it got confusing.  
The second was how to make a fight between a smaller group and larger group seem like a fair match with The GrossLords and The Enforcer fighting against six Resistance members plus Ty & Abby. I decided to take a note from one of the best action movies ever, **_**Old Boy**_**, and have the fight scene take place in a narrow space since in narrow spaces (such as a tunnel) numbers really aren't much of an advantage. Besides, Tyler and The Enforcer has superpowers so they already has an advantage over regular people.**

**One thing you might be confused over is that I sometimes refer to LabRat as RatLab. Well, it's all part of a twist I have coming. For now, just know that whenever either LabRat/RatLab is mentioned I am referring to this universe's version of the character (unless the context says otherwise of course). **

**So, quit many new characters introduced in this chapter. Let's start with the new version of Lance Boil. Since OG Lance is a petty, amoral loser, I felt this version should be a badass paragon of virtue. I wanted this Negative Universe to be a world that feel lived in, where the characters already has some history before Ty & Abby tumbled in here and I think you can see that with the almost fatherly bond Lance Boil has with Paige.**

**PS. favourite character to write right now is definitely Paige. She's just such a delight. Maybe cause OG Paige is my least favourite character, her opposite has to be my favourite. Go figure…**

**I think my biggest inspiration when creating these new versions of Insectiva & Arachnidia was the **_**Wonder Twins**_** from the old **_**Super Friends **_**cartoon, at least in terms of style. I thought, the opposite of the original Chitin sisters who hated each other so much that they would try to kill each another would be a pair of best friends who adore one another so much they can't stay away from each other. They are still a bit different from each other thou with Insectiva being a bit shier and soft spoken than Arachnidia who is a bit more sarcastic and confrontational.**

**Tidy Joe was the last character I came up with so I haven't put as much thought into him. I thought if OG Sloppy Joe was dirty, simpleton hillbilly than his opposite would be more like a hyper-hygienic, snooty, British gentleman. I hope that came across in his dialogue.**

**Then there's this universe's version of Darko Crevasse. Not much to say, he's simple a badass Batman knockoff.**

**Evil version of Ty was introduced in this chapter as well but I'll think I wait till next chapter with giving him a description.**

**I am sorry that it took so long to write this chapter and even more sorry that it will probably take even longer for me to publish the next chapter. Why? Well, I feel I need to go over my plans for this story and rewrite some stuff. There are still aspects of this fanfic that's still not planned or that I might second-guess now and I'll need time to work everything out to make sure what remains of this story works out.**

**As always, any feedback you guys can give me is highly appreciated.**

_**Till We Meet Again, my Grossologists!**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Enter the Negative Universe (Part 1)**

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

The small boat had stranded by the lake side and the Resistance members as well as the Archer siblings had gotten out of it. Exhausted, Abby seated herself on a rock while her brother sat down in the sand, leaning against the same rock.

Despite having exerted herself just as much as the redheaded Archer, Paige didn't seem exhausted at all. She was livid. "We have to go after them!" She proclaimed to the others. "They took Lance and I bet that creepy stalking Abigail has her claws in Kid Root right now as well."

"Your assumption is likely correct, my dear. But I don't see what we can do about it at the moment." Tidy Joe eloquently argued and shook his head. "We do not possess the means to catch up to them."

"Yes we do. Both Insectiva and Ty can fly after them." Paige argued.

Ty blinked. "Just the two of us against an army of robot rodents and those overpowered freaks? I'm flattered for the vote of confidence but those are not odds worth betting on."

"So, we're just gonna give up?" Paige asked aguishly.

"Easy, Paige." Insectiva reassured her. "We'll get them one way or another."

"At least we can be pretty sure where they've taking them, the Gagtower." Arachnidia pointed out.

"Right now, you have your own problems to deal with."

"Eep!" Ty squeaked upon hearing the menacing voice behind him and quickly spun around. He was somewhat relieved when he saw that the owner of the voice wasn't hostile, just really scary. "Darko? Don't sneak up on people like that. You sca-I mean, surprised me."

"Sorry, force of habit." The black dressed vigilante apologized with a monotone yet brooding voice.

"Terrific timing, Darko. You missed the entire party." Arachnidia sarcastically chided while crossing her arms over her chest.

"I apolpgize for that as well. I saw the armada of Hermes drones approaching when I was leaving the lair but I couldn't get in without being spotted so I staked out the area until I found you."

"Your apology is accepted old chap but from now on I want you to stick with us." Tidy Joe exclaimed. "Our adversaries captured our leader and most likely Kid Root as well. We'll need all the help we can get."

"As you wish." Darko replied with a bow. "For the time being I'll stay with you. Tell me, do you know how the GrossLords managed to find you?"

The two men turned their gaze at the two Grossologists who both got a bit startled. "Those two." Tidy Joe answered. "Apparently everything from their dimension carry some kind of radiation which the GrossLords can track."

"Then our first priority should be to get rid of that radiation so they can't track us down again." Darko stated.

"Yeah but how are we supposed to do that?" Abby asked.

* * *

_Around 20 minutes later…_

Ty and Abby both yelped and groaned as the cold water splashed against their exposed skin.

The little band of freedom fighters were currently behind a gas-station a few kilometres outside Ringworm City. The Archer siblings had had to strip down to their underwear as Tidy Joe was flushing them with water from a hose intended for cars, effectively washing the radiation off their bodies. The water was cold and the stream was hard so it was genuinely painful for the two Grossologists. Next to Tidy Joe stood Paige, clutching a pair of towels to her chest. Arachnidia stood by the side line, watching everything unfold while pointing a handheld dosimeter towards the almost naked teenagers.

Darko Crevasse eyed the spider expert and her little device. "Are you always carrying a dosimeter wherever you go?"

"Nah but I was in the midst of studying radiation effects on scorpions when all this weirdness happened. Lucky accident I guess." Arachnidia answered with a shrug. Then she saw that the numbers on the dosimeter had gone down to zero. "Okay Tidy, they're clean. You can shut it down."

Tidy Joe twisted the nozzle on the hose, shutting down the water jet.

Immediately after the water jet ceased, Ty and Abby started chattering their teeth and wrapping their arms around their bodies to maintain some warmth. "It'sss s-s-so co-co-cold." Ty stammered thru his chattering teeth.

The Archer siblings had been thru many humiliating and uncomfortable moments since becoming Grossologists but this was taking the cake. They were wet, cold and naked in front of a bunch of people who resembled their archenemies. It was like a scene out of their most embarrassing coming-to-school-in-their-underwear-nightmares.

Paige approached the duo, although with some hesitation in her steps. "Here's a towel." She handed Abby a towel and the redhead wasted no time draping it around her body in order to warm herself. Paige then turned to give Ty a towel but froze up upon laying eyes on him, her gaze moving down to his abs.

Ty rolled his eyes. He'd gotten somewhat used to girls staring at him but this wasn't the time. He held out his hand and said, "Are you gonna give me that towel or are you waiting for me to get hypothermia?"

This startled the blonde. "Oh right, sorry." Paige apologized and handed him the towel, blushing madly. "I'll go get your new clothes." She stated before awkwardly walking away in a swift pace, wanting nothing more than getting away from the awkwardness.

"Wait, new clothes? We can't wear our slimesuits anymore?" Abby asked puzzled.

"Of course not. All your old stuff radiated as much as you did." Arachnidia explained.

"So we had to dispose of all of it." Insectiva stated.

"Sorry." Arachnidia apologized nonchalantly.

Ty sighed. "Well, I guess since we're in another dimension our communication devices wouldn't work anyway." Suddenly, he realized something. "Wait, what about the Photon-Receiver? We need that thing to get home."

As to answer his question, Darko held up the odd looking device.

The spikey-haired teen let out a sigh of relief. "You had me a bit worried there."

"So, how do we prevent the GrossLords from tracking the radiation of that thing?" Abby asked.

Without saying a word, Insectiva pulled out a silver-grey thermos from behind her back.

"Is that hot chocolate?" Ty asked eagerly with a large grin.

"Or hot soup?" Abby asked, equally happy.

"Whatever it is, I'm taking it. I really need something warm in my body."

With an amused smile, Insectiva unlocked the thermos and turned it upside down. To the Archer siblings' dismay, nothing came out. Insectiva then handed it to Darko who stuffed the Photon-Receiver into the thermos. "The insulating metal of this thermos should be enough to prevent the radiation from being detected." He explained.

The sound of the convenience store's doors opening up was heard, followed by Paige returning with a bundle of clothes in his arms. "Here you go." She said as she handed the Archer siblings their sets of clothes. A pair of white, adult sized t-shirts with the text _I Love Ringworm City _printed on them and two pairs of beige sweat pants.

Abby raised a critical eyebrow. "No dry underwear?"

Arachnidia smirked. "In your bra-size?"

Insectiva elbowed her sister for the inappropriate comment before answering the girl's question. "It's a gas-station, dear. Be happy they had any clothes at all."

"About this gas-station, you think we can trust the people working here?" Ty questioned as he put on the oversized t-shirt.

"No worries. The clerks here are sympathetic to our cause. They've helps us out on numerous occasions." Tidy Joe explained. "Just to be on the safe side thou, I told them to leave town for a couple of days, just in case the GrossLords seeks them out."

Archnidia viewed the Archer siblings in their new unflattering clothes and sighed before turning to her fellow Resistance members. "Alright, now when Sunday clothes has saved us from being tracked like runaway slaves, what are we going to do?"

Paige looked pleadingly towards Tidy Joe and Darko but said nothing.

Darko took a few steps forth. "While I do think rescuing Lance and Kid Root from our enemies and sabotaging LabRat's satellite should be our ultimate goal,"

"And get the two of us back home. I feels that's also super important." Ty chimed in, raising his hand as if he was at school.

"Short-term, we need shelter." Darko continued. "Somewhere we can lay low and plan our next move."

"We do have other hideouts." Insectiva pointed out.

"True but we don't know if they've been compromised or not." Tidy Joe exclaimed. "Remember that Lance Boil fought to keep that sort of information out of our enemies' hands and we don't know if he succeeded. Until we know for certain our enemies are not privy to their locations, I think we should avoid our old hideouts."

Ty lowered his head and shook it. "Even in this universe you guys are outcasts." He then looked at the Resistance. "You got nowhere to go and no one to help you."

"That's not entirely true." Paige said with a hint of shame in her voice, head lowered and eyes closed.

Everyone turned their gaze at the blonde teenager. "Whatever do you mean?" Tidy Joe asked.

Paige still didn't meet her teammates' gazes. The way her body twisted in place made it clear how uncomfortable she was, like she was trying to disappear thru the ground. "Guys…I know I promised to keep my life as a Resistance fighter a secret but…a couple of months ago…I-I told one of my friends about us."

The eyes on Tidy Joe and Arachnidia dilated while Insectiva's blinked, Darko seemed unfazed while Ty and Abby exchanged confused looks before turning back to the blonde teenager who was currently facing the floor in shame.

"You told someone?" Insectiva asked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Arachnidia crossed her arms. "Not cool, girl. Not cool! You broke the sacred superhero code."

"I didn't tell them everything!" Paige defended. "They don't know who you guys really are or where our hideouts are!"

"But they do know of our operations and the operations of our enemies?" Tidy Joe asked critically.

Paige nodded.

"This is serious." The male albino stated.

"Wait a moment." Darko said as he raised an arm in front of the taller man before approaching the girl. "Paige, do you trust this person?"

"With my life." Paige firmly replied.

* * *

Tyler screamed in pain as the electricity charged thru the wall mounted stun guns and into his body. The boy's body twisted in pain as he was brought to his knees and even the tendrils of his slime armour sprung out in spastic movements like if they was trying to escape the pain. Behind him, The Enforcer and Abigail was watching. His sister looked on with a disgusted sneer while the cyborg seemed completely unfazed.

In front of him was a large hologram of RatLab's head. "You had my Photon-Receiver right in front of you but instead of taking it you ran away with your tail behind your legs!" The hologram accused.

"I. I had to. To leave. Before the place blew." Tyler managed to hiss in-between the surges of pain. The RatLab hologram rolled his eyes in annoyance. The stun guns shut down the electricity and folded back into the walls. Tyler was left on his knees, panting.

"Fine. You are forgiven but make sure to never fail me again." RatLab stated in a threatening tone of voice.

As Ty kept catching his breath, The Enforcer step forth. "Sir, my sensor can no longer track those dimension-hopping Archers. Maybe they died in that explosion."

"For your sake they better not be!" The hologram threatened. "It would take me months to build a new Photon-Receiver!"

The cyborg held up his palms defensively. "Don't worry sir. I have my men and the Hermes drones search the ruins to find them and if they're somewhere in the city, we'll sniff 'em out."

Abigail now stepped forth. "RatLab, send me and my brother to hunt them down. Not only can I promise that we'll bring your trinket back but we'll give you the heads of every single one of those Resistance bastards."

As his sister spoke, Tyler got onto his feet. "Yeah, let me make up for my previous blunder."

The hologram of RatLab chuckled. "Einstein once said the definition of insanity is to keep doing something and expect different results every time. I think it's time we let the good people of Ringworm City do our work for us."

At that moment, a pair of doors behind the GrossLords slid open and a short man in business suit stepped into the room. He had a big head with a full set of luscious brown hair and a long nose.

"Director, it's time to work your magic." RatLab said.

The Director's dignified scowl turned into a sinister smirk.

* * *

By the time the Resistance and the two Grossologists had made it back to the city the sun had already risen. The reason why was the Hermes drones that had patrolled the streets all night. Each time they crossed path with a squad of those rat like machines they had to stop and take cover until the threat had passed.

"Man, I never thought I could get tired of the forest but I'm glad we're finally back in the city." Ty exclaimed as they walked thru the streets.

"I know, I'll never complain about the air pollution again." Arachnidia quipped.

Tidy Joe shot her a dirt look. "Never speak well of pollution in my presence."

"The city looks so different at daytime." Abby said as she looked around the place. "The stores are open, cars are driving on the streets, people are just going about their day. It's like we never left the Ringworm of our dimension."

"Hard to believe this city is under siege by supervillains." Ty stated.

Abruptly, Darko stopped in his tracks, his body tensing up. "I hear Hermes drones incoming."

The others stopped as well. Ty looked around before blinking confused. "Where? I don't hear anything."

Darko grabbed the boy by his wrist and ran off with him, the others following close behind. Darko led them into a narrow alley. They all lined up against the walls, staying perfectly still and deathly silent. A minute went by with absolutely nothing happening. Then a group of Hermes drones streaked across the street. At first it seemed like they would all pass them by but the last one stopped right next to the alley. It raised its head, scanning its surroundings.

A cold sweat trailed down Tidy Joe's forehead.

Ty could hear his heart beating faster.

All it took was for a single drone to notice them in order to alert every single one of them. Just as it seemed like the robotic rodent would turn in their direction, it lowered its head and speeded after the others.

In unison, the freedom fighters all let out a sigh of relief. "That was close." Insectiva said.

"How could you tell they were approaching us?" Ty asked Darko.

"It's no secret." He replied, pointing to his ears. "I have a heightened sense of hearing. When you spend most of you time in absolute darkness, ears become more important than eyes."

"Um guys, you should see this." Paige called out from the other end of the alleyway. Once everyone had rushed to her side at the end of the alley, the blonde pointed at a tall jumbo screen atop a building.

On the screen was a short man with a large head and despite the amount of hair on his scalp and his darker attire, the Archer siblings recognized him. "The Director!" Ty and Abby cried out in unison.

"_Good people of Ringworm City, there are enemies afoot."_ The Direcor spoke over the screen. He wasn't just displayed on this jumbo screen, he was also on a couple of other jumbo screens across the street as well as on a zeppelin hovering over the city. All screens and stereos turned his otherwise nasally voice into a bombastic echo.

"What's he doing?" Abby asked.

"Like you said, he's The Director. A formidable opponent." Darko replied.

"Lance talked about him. Apparently he used to be head of the bureau but then joined LabRat's coup for some reason." Paige explained.

"_A terrorist organisation known as the Resistance are seeking to destroy our peaceful existence by toppling our beloved overlords." _The Director continued._ "They may claim to fight for freedom but what they are after is nothing but anarchy! We GrossLords are as reliant on you as you are of us to keep this city safe. For the sake of your families, your co-workers and your leaders, help us uproot these vile criminals."_

The screen then changed from the Director to a series of images of the Resistance fighters, as well as Ty and Abby.

"_These are the enemies. Two of which look almost identical to our leaders but don't be fooled. Their inferior clothing and hairstyles should help you distinguish your saviours from your enemies."_

"Inferior?" Abby gasped, sounding insulted.

"This is bad. The public knows who we are now." Darko stated.

"If you see any of these people, call the authorities and you'll be rewarded with one million dollars. Capturing one of them will earn you five million dollars."

The screen shifted once again to an image of the Photon-Receiver. _"The criminals will be carrying this piece of technology on them. The item was stolen from the GrossLords' personal vault. While its function remains a state secret, I can assure you that will be important for Rinworm's future prosperity. Hand this over to us and you'll be given an additional fifteen million dollars." _The screen shifted back to The Director._ "With your help, we can free our beloved town from this anarchistic vermin and make Ringworm City great again." _The man ended his passionate speech with a fist against his chest, his eyes seemingly on the verge of crying out of patriotism. The video recording then ended.

"Five million dollars? Damn, I'm finally worth something yet I can't earn a penny on it." Ty japed sarcastically.

"Now do we not only have to keep a look out for those Hermes drones…" Insectiva said.

"…but regular folks too." Arachnidia finished.

"We need to disguise ourselves somehow." Paige exclaimed and clutched her chin in contemplation. Her eyes dilated once she thought of a solution. "I got it! There's a clothing store not far from here. I can go there and buy clothes for all of us."

"Aren't you afraid you'll be spotted?" Darko asked.

"Nah, I can use the sewers to get there." The blonde girl replied.

"Not what I meant. The employees at this store. They'll report you to the GrossLords the moment they see you." Darko clarified.

"Nope, they won't." Paige rebutted with a bright smile as she shook her head. "My father owns the store. Actually, he owns the entire mall and while he's currently under their thumb, it's no secret that my father hates the GrossLords and his employees are loyal to him so they definitely won't rat me out."

Abby crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Even in this dimension, Paige's family runs the town." Suddenly, her eyes dilated in realization. "Wait, you're going shopping…and you're rich?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah."

Abby immediately got up in the blonde's face, clutching her hands together. "Can you please take me with you? Please, please."

Paige blinked. "Um, sure. It could be fun."

"While you two gets us new outfits, we need to hide somewhere less open than this alley." Darko stated.

"My old firm's office building. It's not far from here and I am the only one with the key to get inside." Tidy Joe suggested. "We should be safe there."

Darko nodded. "That would be acceptable. We can hide there till Paige and Abigail returns."

"And don't take all day on you. Remember, this is a serious mission, not an outing to the mall." Ty chastised his sister.

Abby put her hands on her hips. "Since when did you become such a party-pooper?"

"Come on Abby. Let's go." Paige said before grabbing the redhead by the wrist and pulling her along as the two ran off.

* * *

"We need to be careful down here." Paige said as she and Abby trekked thru the sewers. "It's probably safer down here than up there but there still might be some Hermes drones down here."

"I have to admit, I feel kind of naked without my Grossology gear." Abby exclaimed.

"Good that we're getting you new clothes then." Paige joked and chuckled a bit. Then, she frowned and lowered her gaze. And uncomfortable silence settled between the two. "Abby?"

"Huh?" Abby peaked up.

"I'm sorry that I punched you before."

"It's okay. I understand why you did it. You're best friend and your surrogate dad had just been taken away from you just because I stumbled into your life." Abby reassured her.

Paige looked at her with sympathetic eyes, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I was irrational when I blamed you. You didn't know you were being tracked, you didn't even want to be in this universe." Paige then sighed and straightened her posture. "Well, I guess blaming ourselves or each other would be unproductive. The best we can do is bring justice to the victims and punish those responsible."

Abby smiled. "You know Paige, you're a really cool girl. Wow, I can't believe I'm saying it. The Paige I'm used to is a total bitch."

"Can you please not use such words? It's upsetting." Paige politely requested.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Paige raised an eyebrow. "But is your world's version of my really that bad?"

"She's the worst!" Abby proclaimed. "She humiliates anyone different than her and she thinks her family's wealth makes her _so_ special."

Paige smiled sadly. "Well, I've never seen myself as anything special. I grew up in a big mansion but my parents were often at work so it got rather lonely. I was tutored for most of my life and didn't even get to go to school. When my parents finally let me attend a public school I found it difficult making friends. Some presumed I was a snob, others thought I was a weirdo cause I was interested in biology. Luckily, I eventually managed to find some really good friends so stuff ain't so bad anymore."

"Biology? The Paige of my universe can't even tell the difference between red beans and jelly beans. Why would you be interested in those kinds of things?" Abby asked curiously.

"My dad took us camping once a year. I fell in love with all the flora and fauna of the forest and wanted to know more about them." Paige replied. "But enough about me, _you_ have to tell me what it's like to be a Grossologist? Is it as exciting as it seems? Do you get to touch a lot of slimy stuff?" The blonde began overenthusiastically ask questions which the redheaded Grossologist tried her best to answer.

* * *

_A few minutes later…_

Abby and Paige were now in the mall, looking at clothes. With a mischievous smirk, Abby pulled out a pink t-shirt with a text saying _PINK FOR MEN_. "Hey Paige!" The redhead called out and held up the shirt for her friend to see it. "Wouldn't it be funny if I got this for Ty?"

"Yeah or you can get him this crop top so his abs are showing again." Paige retorted while holding up a black crop top before awkwardly laughing to herself, like she knew how weird she'd sounded.

Abby rolled her eyes. "Riiiiight. By the way, if we are going to buy clothes for everyone, wouldn't it be good if we knew everybody's sizes?" She asked mostly just to change the subject.

"I know the rough estimates. Besides, these will only be temporary." Paige explained. "We should also get some skin cream for Joe. A six feet tall albino would be pretty conspicuous." The blonde then pulled out a yellow sundress with white frills at the edges. "You would look beautiful in this."

Abby smiled and tilted her head. "You know Paige, I've never gone shopping with a girlfriend before. All my friends at home are guys so I always had to go shopping alone or with my mom."

"I know what you mean. This is fun but remember, we have a job to do."

"You're right. This is a mission and we should treat this with utmost seriou-Oh my god, look at that blouse!" Abby gushed and ran over to the aforementioned piece of clothing.

Paige smiled amused by her new friend's enthusiasm and followed after her. Their time together didn't last long but it was the most fun the two had had in a while.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Ty and the remaining Resistance members had reached Tidy Joe's old firm office. It was a rather small building, located where the inner city transcended into the suburbs.

"That's your place, Joe?" Ty asked. The group was currently a stone throw away from the building, covering by a fence in case there were people nearby.

"It is. It's been untouched for over a year now."

At that moment, Insectiva flew down from the sky and landed next to the others. "There's no Hermes drones nearby nor any of The Enforcer's men."

"I put my bats on lookout." Darko stated before making series of quick whistle sounds with his mouth. Within seconds, a flock of bats gathered above their summoner. Darko then directed them with his hands, gesturing towards the office firm. The bats then headed towards building and nested atop its roof and walls.

Tidy Joe huffed and stuck his nose in the weather. "If I find bat guano on my roof, I'll be sending you the bill." He then headed for the front door and the others followed him without further words.

* * *

The inside of the office firm was a pretty generic workplace. It had a hallway, a cafeteria and a larger room with desks and shelves. Everything coated in a layer of dust.

Tidy Joe let out a sigh before taking out a spray bottle and a washcloth. He sprayed a spot on the wall and started scrubbing with the cloth. "If any of my employees left a place even half this dusty I would have fired them on the spot."

Ty shook his head while rolling his eyes at seeing the albino man obsessively clean. "Tidy Joe consider this place to dirty, Sloppy Joe would see this as not dirty enough. I guess one Joe's heaven is another Joe's hell."

Arachnidia pulled out a swirling chair from behind a desk and leaned back into, sighing in contempt. "Finally, we can rest our legs for a bit." She turned her head a bit. "Yah know, this wouldn't be such a bad place for a secret hideout."

"I agree." Insectiva nodded. "It's spacious and well stocked."

"Maybe we should stay here instead of going to Paige's friend." Arachnidia suggested.

"It would mean putting one less child in trouble." Insectiva stated with a slightly pleading tone in her voice. She clearly wasn't uncomfortable with involving young people in their plans.

"No, we can't stay here for too long." Darko countered.

Arachnidia raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"It's too obvious." Darko said. "Since this is the former workstation of one of our agents, it's one of the first places people will investigate." Immediately upon saying that, his ears beaked up. "I hear something."

The Resistance members all turned their heads from side to side. Tidy Joe shrugged. "I don't hear anything?"

"Wait, I hear it now too." Ty exclaimed, cupping one of his ears. "It sounds like a drill." Soon, soon everyone heard it and then the floor started to violently shake, causing everyone to stagger in order to keep their balance. "Does anyone else think this is unusual or are earthquakes a common occurrence in this dimension?" The spikey haired Grossologist sarcastically asked.

Then the floor erupted and what appeared to be a gigantic zit burst out of the ground. A second look told everyone that the zit was actually metallic. A hatchet on the side of the giant zit opened, pouring out smoke that obstructed the sight of the person stepping out of the strange vessel. "Jackpot on my first try? Well, I guess there's no such thing as luck when you're a genius like me."

The smoke cleared, revealing the intruder. Ty gasped when he recognized who it was. "Andy!"

Andy seemed taken aback by this. "I've never been called Andy. I am Anthony Stefaniuk, otherwise known as-

"The Pussinator!" Arachnidia spat out the name like it was poison.

Ty kept on staring at this new villain in disbelief. He was almost identical to the Andy he'd known in his home dimension but there was some obvious differences. This Andy only had one hand, his right hand to be exact. His left arm ended in a pair of mechanical tweezers. His eyes were covered by a pair of red goggles. He wore a black coat over a grey shirt as well as black pants and black shoes. The most eye-catching thing about him thou was the disgusting multitude of pimples covering his face and forehead, almost like a crown of zits. "Is-is he a supervillain?" Ty asked incredulous.

"One of the worst." Tidy Joe replied.

"Is he also a massive pervert?" The Archer brother asked.

Tidy Joe blinked. "No I think he's asexual."

"Ah, now he seems like an opposite to Andy."

"Why are you here, Pussinator?" Darko asked. "Are you simple here for the bounty? I thought you had hire aspirations than that."

"High aspiration require high costs." The brunette criminal quipped. "The money I'll earn for bringing you in will finance my future endeavours. Of course the reward for bringing in the Photon-Receiver may be enough. What do you say Tidy Joe? Give me that gizmo and I'll let the rest of you alone."

The whitehaired man growled, gritting his teeth in anger. "You intrude on my office, ruin my floor and you have the audacity of making demands of me! Here's my counter ultimatum, you crawl back into the hole you came or I'll cave your skull in!"

"I thought you'd say that." The Pussinator stated as he ominously brought his tweezers to his forehead and started squeezing two of his pimples. "For you heroes, two zits should suffice."

Ty narrowed his eyes. _'What is he up to?' _He thought as he readied himself for anything.

The two zits finally popped and two chunks of puss burst out, hitting the floor with a splat. The chunks of puss then started to wiggle and thrash around as if they were alive. Then they started to grow and transform, growing heads, limbs and tails until one of them took the form a big lizard while the other turned into a giant cobra. Both creatures hissed menacingly at them.

Ty's jaw dropped. "Okay, that has to be weird no matter which dimension you're in."

The Pussinator smirked devilishly. "Zit-Monsters, attack! Divide and conquer!" And with that, the creatures sprinted into action.

The Resistance members ran towards the door but the before they reached it, the zit-cobra had darted into the group, not only blocking the exit but also managed to cut Ty and Tidy Joe off from their allice.

"Move on! There's a garage at the end of the hallway, you can get out that way!" Tidy Joe called out to the others while pulling a floor mop from his backpack. The zit-cobra struck out at Ty and Joe but the albino smacked its head with the mop.

Darko and the Chitin sisters ran in the direction Joe had instruction for them, something that didn't go unnoticed by the zit-lizard which galloped after them.

* * *

The trio entered the office firm's garage. It was a pretty spacious area with no less than two trucks and four company cars.

Being the last in, Darko slammed the door after him before continue running. This was of little use thou as the door collapsed the moment the artificial lizard burst thru it. It turned its head from side to side, trying to discern where its prey went.

"Hey, Zitzilla! If you want a juicy bug to snack on, come over here!" Insectiva's voice echoed thru the room. The zit-lizard ran in the direction the voice was coming from till it spotted its owner. Insectiva was unassumingly standing between one of the trucks and one of the company cars. She innocently smiled and waved at the lizard. The monster hissed and charged at its target.

"Now, sis!" Insectiva shouted.

Arachnidia was crouching atop the truck. She quickly made a few adjustments to her web-shooter before firing it at the lizard down below. A net of silk entangled the zit-lizard before it could reach Insectiva, trapping it between the two automobiles. Insectiva then threw a pair of pills at the creature which exploded into pink dust.

Darko stepped up to the purple haired entomologist. "What did you do?"

"I peppered it with insect pheromones." Insectiva replied.

"Dosent seem like it did anything." Darko commented. The zit-lizard started ripping thru the net with its jaws and claws as it violently thrashed in its bonds. "Come on. We need to put more distance between us and it." The black haired man ordered. He and Insectiva ran out of the garage and onto the dirt road outside. Arachnidia quickly jumped off the truck and ran after her companions.

The zit-lizard hissed aggressively as its thrashing and clawing ripped apart the last of the silken threads, shucking off the dismantled net. Seeing its prey getting away from it, it did something unexpected. It shoved its flat head underneath the nearest company car and flipped it…

"Duck!" Arachnidia shouted before tackling Darko and Insectiva to the ground. The thrown car soared over their heads and crashed against the ground, shattering its windshields and setting off its alarm.

Seeing the totalled vehicle, all three freedom fighters let out a unified sigh.

Suddenly, the zit-lizard pounced on them. Arachnidia was able to roll out of the way but Insectiva and Darko weren't as fast and got pinned underneath the creature's feet. "Get off them, zit-freak!" Arachnidia growled and aimed her web-shooter at the monster but before she could fire the zit-lizard's tail wrapped around her body, snaring her limbs before raising her off the ground. The three adults all tried to break loose from the monster's grip but to no avail.

The zit-lizard opened its jaws wide with intension of biting Darko and Insectiva's heads off. Then it heard a weird buzzing sound. It turned its head and saw a small yellow jacket hovering by its head. It snapped its jaws at the annoying insect but the bug dodged it. Three more yellow jackets arrived and the zit-lizard fruitlessly tried to bite them. Then more yellow jackets flew in and then more and more. Finally, an entire swarm had appeared started circling and biting the lizard. In its attempts to get rid of the pests, the zit-lizard forgot about its human prey and stepped off Insectiva and Darko while letting Arachnidia slip out of its grip.

The Resistance fighters got a safe distance away from the frenzy and watched as the zit-lizard tried to fight off the swarm of aggressive wasps. Darko glanced over at Insectiva and saw that the lights on her headband was blinking in a strange way. "Those yellow jackets, you called them here." He surmised.

"The pheromones drove them here. My lights then helped directing them. You know, to make sure they didn't kill us as well." Insectiva explained.

"I see. Quiet impressive."

"Funny how much you can accomplish with a little bit of teamwork, eh." Arachnidia sarcastically noted.

With their clawed feet and powerful mandibles, the yellow jackets tore of chunks of puss off the zit-lizard's body. At first the damage seemed minimal but after a few minutes, its tail fell off and then one of its legs was torn down. Ultimately, the zit-lizard's head fell off its shoulders. The yellow jackets carried off the amputated body parts to eat them.

The zit-lizard was no more.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

The zit-cobra had chased Ty and Tidy Joe into a large storage room, a spacious shed of cement with rows upon rows of shelves with cleaning products.

The freedom fighters tried to divide the creature's attention by splitting up. The zit-cobra snapped its jaws at Ty but the teenager jumped out of its reach. "This would be so much easier if I had my Grossology equipment with me." The spikey haired boy lamented. The zit-cobra snapped at him again and Ty summersaulted to get away.

Tidy Joe rushed in and smacked the snake over the head with his floor mop. The zit-cobra turned its attention to the albino cleaner and struck out. Tidy Joe held up the floor mop to defend himself and the snake bit down on the mop handle. The two combatants started a tug-war with Tidy Joe pushing the mop, trying to force back the snake while the zit-cobra tried pushing the mop forward in order to pin Joe to the floor.

"Think. That monster is made of puss. What's the best way to get rid of zits?" Ty talked to himself while ponderously clutching his chin. His eyes dilated in realization. Turning around, he noticed some of the shelves stored bottles of chemicals. He cupped his mouth and called out to his partner, "Joe, do you know if there's any Salicylic acid in here?"

"It should be on the top shelf behind you!" He answered while still tamping with the giant cobra. Realizing he wasn't strong enough, he abruptly ripped the mop out of the creature's jaws and the zit-cobra's head smashed into the floor as it was unable to stop its momentum. Tidy Joe took this opportunity to stab the creature thru the head with the end of the mop. On a normal animal this would be fatal but the zit-monster ripped its head free, tearing a wide gash in its head. The snake hissed in pain as the gash sealed up.

Tidy Joe grit his teeth in frustration. "Darn it."

While the snake and the albino threw down, Ty was climbing up the shelf. "Of course the bottle should be at the very top." The Grossologist lamented when he suddenly saw something. It was a jar full of pills. He picked it up and checked the label. "Aspirin." A smirk formed on his face. "This will speed things up a notch."

Ty continued to climb. He grabbed a bottle of Salicylic acid at the highest rack before climbing onto the top of the shelf where he unscrewed the bottle cap and crushed a couple of aspirins, letting the crumbs fall into the acid. "Joe, catch this!" He cried out to his partner.

Quickly, Tidy Joe sprayed the zit-cobra with a bottle of detergent, causing it to rear back. He then jumped back and held up his arm. Ty threw the bottle of chemicals to him. The moment Joe caught it, he grabbed a bucket of soup water and doused the chemical cocktail into it. The zit-cobra rushed at its prey once more. It reared up its head and struck out. The moment the snake got close, Tidy Joe threw the bucket content right at the creature's head. The zit-cobra reared back and let out a blood curdling scream as its head started to dissolve. The scream ended when its head crumbled to the floor.

Tidy Joe turned to Ty, smiling. "Good show, chap."

"We did it! That was awesome!" The young Grossologist jubilated.

"I concur. It was impressive." The sinister voice sent shivers down Ty's back. The turned around and saw the evil version of Andy at the other end of the shelf they were standing on. How he got up here, he had no idea. "A moment like this should be immortalized with photo. Don't you agree?" Pussinator mused as he brought out a white camera from underneath his coat, a camera that looked kind of familiar. "Smile." He said before clicking the shutter button.

The camera flash blinded Ty for a moment but after blinking a few times his vision got back to normal and he took on a defensive stance, ready fight. Then, his head started feeling heavy, especially by his temple. Ty touched the right side of his head and felt a newly bloomed pimple. Suddenly, the pimple doubled in size. "What the…" The pimple doubled in size again and again and again. "What did you do to me?" Ty demanded to know while cupping the growing zit.

Pussinator chuckled. "If you're anything like the Tyler Archer of this dimension, I thought it be fitting if your head matched the size of your ego."

The zit on the side of Ty's head finally reached the same size of his head and then doubled. The spikey haired teen could keep his balance anymore. He staggered to his right before falling off the shelf. He hit the floor with a heavy thud and gasped for air. The zit had finally stopped growing after having grown three times the size of the boy's head.

The mad scientist smirked down from the top shelf rack. Using his tweezers, he once again popped a zit on his forehead. The puss transformed in mid-air, sprouting wings, head and a long tail till it looked like a flying Pterodactyl. Pussinator jumped onto the creature's back before it swooped down and wrapped its gelatinous tail around Ty's legs.

"Wait. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!" Ty shouted as the zit-dactyl carried off with him, his oversized head bumping against the floor over and over again.

Anthony heard the vague sound of footsteps and turned around on his steed and saw Tidy Joe chasing aster them, reaching out to grab Ty. "Let him go, you pseudointellectual mad man!"

Pussinator simple smirked before reaching for a zit located on his nose. His tweezers popped it and the puss hit Tidy Joe in the face. The large man screamed and tumbled onto the floor, clutching his face as the puss burned thru his skin.

"Concentrated puss. My pimples are like kinder eggs, you never know what they hide." Anthony mused as he turned back around.

The zit-dactyl soon reached the pimple-like drill tank and carelessly threw Ty into the hatchet. "Ouch." The Grossologist whined.

Pussinator jumped off his flying stead and into the drill tank. "Stay behind and guard the exit. I don't want anyone following me." The chubby scientist ordered the zit-monster before shutting the hatchet. The drill tank activated with big huff before the drill stared turning and it descended underground.

* * *

As the pimple-shaped drill tank made its way underground, Ty groaned in pain as he carefully rubbed the oversized pimple that had immobilized him. "I'll never make fun of Lance Boil ever again."

"If you can tell jokes it means you haven't suffered any concussion. I'm so glad." Anthony jived sarcastically while looking over a monitor screen on the tank's control board. The drill tank had no windows but instead had sensors which mapped out the surrounding area. "By the way, what do you think of my Pimple-Drill? Pretty cool, am I right?"

"Meh," Ty shrugged, "have you seen one pimple inspired vehicle, you've seen all of them."

The mad scientist pouted. "You know, out all of everyone I'm glad I managed to capture you. Tyler Archer, the guy you're impersonating is a real prick. Always thinking he's better than me but I'll show him who the true evil boy genius is."

"I'm not an impersonator. I'm from another dimension where the heroes here are bad guys and the assholes are good guys." Ty clarified.

Anthony blinked. "Really? Then tell me, how am I like in your universe?"

"He's my best friend and a million times cooler than you. He can probably make much more impressive drill than this."

Bitterly, Anthony stuck out his lower lip. "Stingley, aren't we?"

Then, suddenly…

_*BZZZ* *BZZZ* *BZZZ*_

An alarm went off and red lights started blinking. Troubled, Anthony looked on the monitor. It showed his Pimple-Drill digging a lengthways path across the screen but then there was something else. Something digging a crosswise path across the screen.

Pussinator raised a puzzled brow. "Must be something wrong with the sensor."

The two paths crossed each other and suddenly the entire Pimple-Drill trembled, causing Anthony to fall on his side and Ty to slap about like a dying fish. Once the tremors ended, they both noticed that the vehicle had stopped moving.

Pussinator got up and headed for the shutter. "You stay put while I go out and see what happened." He told his captive while opening the door.

"Sure, dad. Can you grab me some beef jerky at the gas station while you're out." Ty joked sarcastically.

Anthony sighed and shook his head before stepping out of the Pimple-Drill. Once outside, he tapped the edges of his goggles and a pair of lamps shinned his way. He then gazed upon his drilling machine and was quit perplexed at what he saw. Two enormous, furry paws with huge claws clamping down on the Pimple-Drill.

"Wha-what is this?"

Then, a huge hairy head peaked over the drill. It was first now that the evil genius could discern the creature's identity. It was a colossal mole, ten meters long and probably more than four ton in weight.

Scared, Anthony stepped back. "Where did a monster like you come from?"

"His name is Ferdinand." A familiar, broody voice vented. Anthony turned in the direction of the voice and saw Darko Crevasse approaching. "I saved him from Dr. Nocturno a five days ago. Some kind of lab experiment. He wasn't the only animal I liberated that day." The vigilante lifted up his fist and unfurled his fingers. There, in his palm was a shrew. Seemingly, just an ordinary shrew.

Pussinator chuckled. "A white-toothed shrew? You should have started with that. After the elephant sized mole it's pretty anticlimactic."

Then, the shrew jumped out of Darko's hand and landed on Pussinator's shoulder. Darko covered his ears right before the shrew let out a bloodcurdling scream. Anthony screamed in pain but he was barely audible over the sound of tiny mammal on his shoulder. He raised his arm to get rid of the shrew but his entire body was almost paralyzed. Once blood started pouring out of the scientist's ears, did the shrew stop shrieking.

Anthony stood like frozen in place, jaw open with drool leaking out. He then fell unconscious, face first onto the ground.

"Good job Daria, Ferdinand. You can leave now if you wish." Darko said.

The huge mole observed the human for a moment before letting out a gruff and then left the way he came. The shrew, Daria, on the other hand, ran back to Darko who kneeled down and held out his palm. Daria skipped onto the hand and Darko pocketed her back into his cloak.

Tidy Joe then came running, closely followed by the Chitin sisters. "Darko, are you unharmed." He called out.

"I'm fine." Darko replied before gesturing to the unconscious Pussinator. "He'll be knocked out for about an hour. We should find a place to tie him up. How did things go with the winged zit-monster?"

Insectiva shrugged. "After dealing with the lizard and the cobra,"

"That zit-pterodactyl was easy piece." Arachnidia finished the sentence.

The Resistance went inside the Pimple Drill and found Ty lying on its floor. The teenage Grossologist smiled upon seeing them. "Guys, thanks for introducing me to a new experience."

"What experience?" Arachnidia asked confused.

"Being pleased to see you." Ty retorted. He then groaned and lightly rubbed the huge pimple that kept him floored. "Say, you think you can do something about this giant zit before the girls comes back?"

"Don't worry. I got everything you need." Tidy Joe answered and held up a bottle of acne cream.

* * *

Abby and Paige soon returned with new clothes for everyone. The two girls themselves had also gotten new clothes with Abby now wearing her typical, purple attire while Paige now wore an attire similar to the one worn by Paige in Ty and Abby's dimension. Insectiva and Arachnidia got matching brown leather jackets and sun hats to hide their eye-catching outfits and hairdos. Darko Crevasse were given a trench coat and sunglasses while Tidy Joe got a baggy, grey hoodie and matching sweatpants. Finally, Ty got a sleeveless black tank-top, black leather pants and a white baseball-cap. He thought it was a bit too revealing but he stopped complaining when Abby told him he should be grateful that she'd been able to talk Paige out of buying something even scantier. The Resistance weren't too thrilled over their new clothes but it was would only be temporary.

An hour later, the group reached the house where Paige's alleged friend lived. "This is the place?" Abby asked surprised. The house they were facing was one of a multitude of terrace-houses that all looked the same and all had well-kept lawn.

"It is." Paige replied and started advancing towards the front door but then stopped in her tracks and turned to the others. "Oh, I forgot tell you, while my friend knows all about you guys, their parents doesn't so let me talk to them first and," she clutched her hands in a prayer, "please don't do anything too weird."

"What's so weird about two bug ladies, a six feet albino, a Nosferato look-alike and a teenage boy dressed like a bondage slave?" Arachnidia scoffed sarcastically, earning her an elbow to the side from her irked sister.

Paige took the doorsteps up to the front door and pressed the doorbell, eliciting a couple of buzzes. Soon, the sound of footsteps approaching within could be heard.

Ty leaned closer to Abby and whispered, _"Who do you think this friend is? Blonde clone number one or blonde clone number two?"_

The door opened by the occupant of the house. "Paige! I'm so glad to see you. I've been seriously worried."

The moment Ty saw Paige's friend, his jaw hit the floor. The person standing in the doorway wasn't a girl but a boy, a boy with red hair, freckles and a gap-toothed grin. Although, the grey army jacket was new, the violet shirt underneath it and everything else was familiar to the Grossologist. The only thing missing was a characteristic pink eye. Without even thinking, Ty gasped out the name of his old friend. "Roger!"

Roger grinned. "Do I know you people?"

* * *

_A little while later…_

The Resistance fighters and the Grossologists were situated in Roger's living room. The four adults sat in the large sofa, Paige sat on a chair and Abby sat on a footstool while Ty simple leaned against a wall in the corner.

"You guys are lucky my parents aren't here right now." Roger stated as he came into the room, hands pocketed in his jacket. "They're out of town on some romantic getaway."

"I'm sorry young man but do you think you can explain how you know Paige?" Tidy Joe asked.

"We go to school together." The ginger replied.

"He's my friend. One of my _closest_ friends." Paige emphasised, sounding rather defensive.

"Sorry for not being clear enough. I meant, how did you come to know Paige was working with us?" The former cleaning manager clarified.

"Paige has always been a very diligent person so I started to worry when she started skipping classes. One day I decided to follow her and found her knee deep in trouble with the GrossLords."

Abby let out a chuckle. "Seems Roger's a nosy little stalker no matter which universe."

Roger raised a puzzled eyebrow at the ponytailed girl but decided to ignore her. "Anyway, I helped her and then she entrusted me with her secrets."

"He's been my confidant ever since." Paige declared. "He's been covering up for me and given me advice. Trust me, we can trust him."

"Fine, we'll trust him but only if he can scrunch up some food. I'm starving." Arachnida retorted half-jokingly.

"Carly, don't be rude." Insectictiva chastised her sister, only for her stomach gurgle. "That said, I'm pretty hungry too."

"I can heat up some leftovers for you. Mom always makes a lot of lunchboxes." Roger said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the kitchen.

"That would be very generous of you. Thank you, lad." Tidy Joe thanked.

"The Roger of our universe always had durians in his kitchen." Abby said in a suggestive manner.

"I got it. I get you some." Roger responded with a wink.

"Awesome." The redheaded girl declared.

It wasn't until Roger turned around that he noticed Ty glaring at him. The spikey haired Grossologist had been staring rather judgmentally at him this entire time. "See anything you like?" Roger asked with a cheeky smirk.

Ty nod off in surprise. "No, no. I was just…" He stopped babbling, looked away from Roger to gaze at the floor while playing apathetic. "Sorry for staring. Just ignore me."

Roger shrugged and left the living room, Ty's eyes following him till he disappeared of sight.

Abby took notice of the interaction between her brother and this dimension's version of his old friend. She also noticed the pain and confusion in her brother's eyes. Abby let out a sigh, got off the footstool and walked up to her brother. "You should try to talk to him." She said, nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen.

Ty blinked. "Why?"

"I can tell you have a lot you want to say to him." Abby replied. "I've also noted you've changed ever since Roger disappeared. You miss him and this might be your chance to, I don't know, set things straight."

"I miss _our_ Roger. I've never met this guy." Ty retorted.

"True but maybe talking to this Roger will help you understand the Roger in our world." Abby shrugged. "At very least you can lay some of those curiosities, which I know you're full of, to rest."

Ty sighed thru his nostril before heading out of the room. "Hey, Roger. You need any help out there?"

Once her brother had left the room, Abby went back to her footstool. Paige's eyes followed her, filled with curiosity. "Does Ty and Roger have some kind of history with each other?"

"You can say that." Abby said as she sat down. "Ty and the Roger of our universe used to be friends but Ty's career as a Grossologist came between them and Roger did some pretty heinous stuff. Some time ago, he disappeared. We think he either got kidnaped or fell in with a really bad crowd."

"How sad." Paige stated.

"We can exchange campfire stories later, now we need to plan our next move." Darko proclaimed before reaching into his cloak and pulled out a file which he placed on the table. He opened it and spread out its content, multiple blueprints and schematics on the GagTower, the Wormhole machine and the Solar Magnet."

Tidy Joe was amazed at the amount of information laid in front of him. "You've certainly done your homework."

"Not me. My informant." Darko rectified.

"About that, are you ready to tell us who this informant is now?"

Darko silently looked at the six feet tall man for a few seconds before saying, "No." and turned his attention back to the papers laid out on the table. "Lance and Kid Root is most likely held within the dungeon." He stated and pointed at a blueprint of the Gagtower. "It's at the very bottom of the Gagtower."

"Right underneath the old Gaglab." Paige commented.

"Maybe we can get in thru the sewers." Insectiva suggested.

"I've been thinking of that." Darko said. "The problem is that all the sewage lines underneath the tower are guarded by Hermes drones."

"So what? We can easily deal with a few robo-rats." Arachnidia argued.

"True. The problem is that the moment those drones sees us, they'll alert the GrossLords of our presence." Darko stated.

"Now, that is a problem." Tidy Joe proclaimed.

Abby put an index finger to her lip as she tried to think of a solution when she suddenly remembered something from her first encounter with one of the Hermes-drones. "Hey," she enthusiastically raised her hand, "I have an idea."

* * *

"So Roger, do you ever…have any problems with your eyes?" Ty asked.

The kitchen they were in was rather spacious. It had a large round dinner table and a long counter laying across the room. In fact, the entire house seemed well kept. A far cry from the rundown little apartment the Roger Ty knew lived in.

Roger had stacked a multitude of lunchboxes on the counter and was currently placing one in the microwave. "My eyes? Um, no. Why do you ask?"

"Well, the Roger of my world always has conjunctivitis. Actually, we sometimes call him Roger Pink-Eye."

Roger raised an eyebrow. "That's kind of weird. Conjunctivitis usually go away after a few days."

Ty shrugged. "Yeah but our Roger aren't all that hygienic."

Roger smirked and rolled his eyes. "Well, I may not be the cleanest man in the world but I wash my hands every once in a while."

The spikey haired teen tilted his head slightly. "Say, do you wish to be a Grossologist?"

The ginger leaned back against the counter. "That's mostly Paige's dream but as a science warrior I have to admit that it would be pretty cool."

The more Roger talked, the more difficult it got to compare him to the Roger Ty knew. All the insecurities that his former friend had was unnoticeable in this guy. He was a confidant smooth talker. Ty felt less and less like asking this guy questions. It just got him thinking of his old friend at it made him uncomfortable. He instead decided to ask something he's been wondering for a while now. "Do you know a girl named Naomi Collins?"

Roger blinked. "Yeah, she used to be in my class. Why do you ask?"

"Used to be? What happened to her?" Ty asked, ignoring Rogers own question.

"Well, none of us ever really got to know her. She was home and sick most of the times."

"Because of all her allergies?" Ty guessed.

"Exactly." Roger said and fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He continued talking even while fiddling with his little device. "One day she was called in sick again and after that we never heard of her again."

Ty felt rather disappointed with the answer. "That's tragic but then again maybe it's for the best. I mean, the Naomi in our world is a total angel so the Naomi in this world must be-

"No way!" Roger reacted strongly to something he saw on his cell phone.

Ty blinked. "What is it?"

"Do you have Goo-Glee alerts in your world?"

"Yes."

"Well, I just got one. I've had it searching for the keywords '_Resistance_' and _'GrossLords'_." Roger replied as he walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where the Resistance members were still discussing strategy. Ty followed him.

Darko was saying, "…we need to get into the machine room where-

"Guys, you need to see what's on TV right now." Roger proclaimed, grabbed the TV-controller and put on the television.

The sinister sneer of The Director appeared on the screen.

"It's the Director!" Paige exclaimed.

"What does he want?" Abby snarled.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your television entertainment, dear citizens. Eh, who am I kidding? Everyone is streaming nowadays." The Director said before clearing his throat. "This message goes out directly to the Resistance. Since our citizens have failed to find you and our benevolent leaders are growing restless, we are willing to make a deal with you. Give us the Photon-Receiver and we'll give Lance Boil back to you. Meet us in three hours in Ringworm Park for the exchange or we'll execute your cherished leader." He menacingly leaned into the camera. "Be punctual." The transmission ended and the channel went back to showing some commercial.

Everyone in that living room were stunned. "They want the Photon-Receiver…" Arachnidia vented.

"…for Lance Boil's life!" Insectiva gasped.

Ty started to worry. "But without the Photon-Receiver, me and Abby won't be able to get home!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So I have completely overhauled all my future plans for this story (hence why this chapter took so long to get finished). Everything I've already written will stay the same but what I've planned have changed and as a result, this will be the last full length chapter of **_**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**_**. Yep. Normally these S3 stories has five full length chapter as well as a prologue and an epilogue but this one will only have four. There will be an epilogue and then we'll continue on to S3E9 **_**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 2**_**.**

**I just realized this is the second time I have a character explain their backstory while moving thru the sewer in this story. I'll stop doing that before it becomes a troop.**

**We had three character introductions in this chapter. This universe's versions of The Director, Andy and Roger. OG Director was pretty much a joke. He was a cowardly, terrible boss so I thought it would be fitting if his alternate version was evil but competent at what he was doing.**

**The inspiration for evil Andy (Anthony or Pussinator) is a bit more interesting. In the episode **_**Puss Off**_** Andy almost became a villain when Lance Boil tried to convince him to join his side. This evil version of Andy is essentially what he would have been if he had gone over to the dark side. I know monsters made out of puss is a bit on the more fantastical side of things but the original show did have Sloppy Joe's FrankenBooger so I don't think it's too out of place.**

**Obviously Goo-Glee is the Grossology version of Google. I try to keep the pop-culture references to a minimum, mostly cause the original show mostly used legally safe substitutes for pop-culture (like instead of **_**Star Trek**_** they had **_**Star Voyager**_**).**

**I never thought I would ever write a Paige/Ty shipping moment (I personally hate that ship) but I guess since this Paige is a completely different character I am okay with it. You're welcome Tyge shippers!**

**As always, I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me. Positive or negative, doesn't matter.**

_**Stay home and stay safe, Grossologists!**_


	6. Epilogue

**Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1**

* * *

**Epilogue:**

_Back in the Original Universe…_

The Detective looked up from the laptop he'd confiscated, raising a brow. "So, you're saying that you built this machine but it wasn't your idea?"

The Detective and Lance Boil was still in the abandoned manufacturing plant. It had been a tad over two hours since Ty and Abby were sucked into the Wormhole. Lance Boil was handcuffed to a support beam. "Exactly. Somebody e-mailed me the blueprints to me and I followed the instructions. I certain it would help me get into the Gaglab." The formers Grossologist explained. It hadn't taken much to get the pink skinned criminal to spill his secret. Being a narcissist, Lance Boil couldn't help himself.

"Any idea who sent you those instructions?" The Detective asked.

"Even with my genius hacking skills I couldn't find out who had sent it to me. And for someone who's supposed to live off the grid, it's sort of alarming that someone found my e-mail address."

They both heard the sound of a car driving by.

"Good. They're here." The Detective said and closed the laptop.

"Who?" Lance asked puzzled.

"I contacted your former colleagues to help me sort out this mess you've made." The burly officer replied.

The Director and LabRat walked into the room, Hermes situated on the latter's shoulder.

Lance Boil eyed the two with an unimpressed expression. "I never expected you two to show up at a crime scene. You're too lazy and you're too scared to leave the lab."

"I'm scared of the outdoors, not of abandoned factories." The teenage genius stated right before a spider lowered itself in front of him. "Ah! Spider!" He squeaked and swatted the arachnid.

Lance Boil chuckled.

"Detective, please tell me things aren't as bad as LabRat made them out to be." The Director lamented.

"I'm afraid it is." The Detective replied and jerked his thumb at the busted Wormhole machine. "Ty and Abby was sucked into that machine. According to Lance, it's a teleporter that was going to take him inside the Gaglab."

"Well, they have not been to the Gaglab, that's for sure and we've been trying to get in contact with them ever since their tracking signals died on us." LabRat explained.

The Detective handed the young genius the laptop. "Here. This laptop contains all information on the teleporter."

LabRat opened up the laptop and started reading the files on screen. "Interesting." He commented to no one in particular. He sat down and placed the portable computer in his lap. For the next twenty minutes, everyone was silent while LabRat read thru the text on screen. Every once in a while, he would nod in understanding or mumble something to himself. Hermes eventually got so bored he curled up inside his master's hoodie and fell asleep.

"Wow. Whoever came up with this is a genius." LabRat exclaimed and glanced at Lance.

The mutant criminal rolled his eyes and tilted his head up. "Well, I'm sure whoever built it was a genius too."

LabRat got up on his feet and smirked. "I thought this was too advanced for you."

"_Smug, little bastard." _Lance Boil snarled under his breath.

"You see, this machine operates on the quantum entanglement theory." LabRat continued. "That's when particles interact on a quantum level and their states become parallel to each other even over vast distances. For example, if two electrons-

"LabRat, I left my nine year old son alone at home for this. Can you please just get to the point?" The Director interrupted.

The young scientist sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that Boil's teleporter worked but it didn't send Ty and Abby to the Gaglab. They ended up," he raised his hand and pointed straight down, "exactly here."

"In the ground?" The Directed shrieked.

"Maybe this place got a basement." The Detective suggested.

"No, no. I mean they're here but also _not _here." LabRat tried his best to clarify. "They're in an alternate universe. A world just like ours just different."

"What?" Lance Boil sounded shocked that something like that had passed under his notice. "That's ridiculous! That's like something out of a cliché sci-fi series."

"At least there's one upside to all of this." The dark skinned teenager said.

"What's that, lad?" The Detective asked.

LabRat smiled. "With these notes, I'm going to build a teleporter of my own and bring Ty and Abby back to us."

* * *

_ENDING SONG: Soul Eater OP (English Cover) – NateWantsToBattle._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And that's the end of S3E8, Enter the Negative Universe: Part 1. The story will continue in Enter the Negative Universe: Part 2 which should come out soon enough.**

**I know that having LabRat come out and say he'll bring Ty and Abby back himself kind of takes away the stakes of giving up the Photon-Receiver which was set up in the last chapter but I think the dilemma will still lead to some character development and I think most readers will find what I have planned for LabRat in part two really entertaining so hopefully it will be worth it.**

**If anyone ships Abby & Chester as hard as I do, I can recommend another fanfic of mine, **_**Unconditional. **_**It's an ensemble of Abbster shorts, ranging from adorable to angsty. Read it to get your daily Abbster dose right here!**

**As always, tell me what you like/dislike about this story so far. Any feedback you guys can give me is really appreciated.**

_**Take care of yourselves, Grosslogists!**_


End file.
